Mass Effect Wars
by Steel Scale
Summary: A Council Spectre is drawn into the Covenant War, a Spartan's mission takes a turn for the worse, and the Covenant doesn't care who they kill to destroy the UNSC. Rating may change. Now rated M. This version is up for adoption, new rewrite is on the way.
1. Chapter 1

Mass Effect Wars

_The Citadel Council discovers a war going on in the newly discovered 'Local Cluster' between an alliance of alien species aiming to eliminate the humans. When a Covenant fleet invades Stronghold, the code name for another of Earth's great military worlds with a population of over three hundred million, an Asari Spectre is brought down into the fight and is forced to join Spartan O-067 Chase and Omega Squadron in a fght for survival._

_Xxx_

**Citadel Station, Serpent Nebula**

The image displayed before the council showed schematics of various ship and weapon designs. Standing next to the holographic list as it slid over its contents was a tower sized image of an Asari Captain of the Asari Cruiser _Matriarch's Prime_, Lania Curana, who was among the youngest of commanding officers of this generation of Asari. She was an accomplished Biotic and Commander, decorated for beating back a pirate invasion against a Hanar colony and supposedly went toe to toe with Aria herself, breaking the one rule the pirate queen had: Don't fuck with Aria. Curana had left the Citadel as a Spectre only several weeks ago and returned only yesterday from the first Military Enforced Expedition the Citadel Council had allowed in centuries with news from what was deemed the local cluster.

"I spent seventeen weeks monitoring the battles Council, and they appear one sided ninety percent of the time." Captain Curana stated. "If you shall see here, one faction identified as the humans possesses rather inferior technology. Their weapons would be on par with our ships and able to blast a hole through our kinetic barriers had we not upgraded the entire fleet several years ago, and their enemy utilizes plasma, which would be able to burn through ship armour in several well placed shots. The humans are playing the defensive most of the time, with battles usually only being won if the humans have a force outnumbering their enemies three to one."

"Do you have any information on this hostile faction, Captain Curana?" The Salarian Councillor, Libran asked.

"I am afraid there was not much sir, but I have managed to confirm the following." Curana relaxed her pose visibly. "This faction is primarily known as the Covenant, and seems to be a hierarchy of species who worship a race of long dead beings tracing back one hundred thousand years ago at the least."

"A hundred thousand...that predates the Protheans themselves." The Turian Councillor, Wrana pondered the possibility of this. "IS there a name for this long dead race?"

"There is repeated mention of 'Forerunners' in covenant news nets." Curana replied. "The covenant hierarchy is made up of several species. I have classified several, beginning with what appears to be a class of technicians." The image of a bloated pink creature with tentacles appeared. "Utilizing the hull of a disabled human ship, I staged an ambush on a planet using human technology and weaponry and eliminated all warriors on a small scout craft of covenant who were hunting for a crashed human civilian ship. I left the technicians alive, and found that they did not seem to care either way who they worked under, so long as they worked. They even repaired damages our armours took, adapting to the technology instantaneously."

"You allowed these creatures access to Citadel technology?" Wrana asked.

"I did not know what they had been doing until afterwards sir, they had my shield generator fixed in under twelve seconds." Liana Curana kept her tone respectful. "These creatures are quite literally living super computers, and appear to only be working for the Covenant because the Covenant is the only faction that breeds them, and they guard them jealously."

"The next class is a species of insect beings who I have classified as Drones. They breed by the hundreds and are expendable infantry perfect for swarming enemy positions using light weaponry. The next caste is made up of the Grunts, who operate in squadron formations and often panic during battle, sometimes making suicide runs at enemy lines and being used as cannon fodder. They usually operate turrets and are used to help draw enemy fire with heavy weaponry and salvos of gun fire." Curana continued.

"Above this class is the Jackals, who serve as snipers and shield men, carrying shield shaped barriers that can absorb half of an entire thermal clip of assault rifle fire before it goes down. They often operate alone or in fire teams, sometimes commanding the Grunts."

For each species she listed, an image of each appeared alongside the image of the Engineer.

"And finally, the Higher Caste of the Covenant, beginning with the Brutes and Elites." There were two new images. One was of a massive ape like creature with grey fur and skin wielding a massive weapon with a blade attached to it, firing explosive shells at unseen enemies as bullets tore through its armour. As a vehicle ran the ape down, Curana paused the recording. "Brutes, heavy infantry and tied only by the Elites."

The recording of the Elites showed a tall creature with mandibles like a turian and clad in black armour wielding two sets of blade shaped weapons that glowed as it tore through two humanoid soldiers who fired SMG style weapons at it. As it raised one sword, three soldiers pushed past the cameraman and raised assault rifles, firing burst after burst into the Elite, which slowly succumbed to the fire power as the recording paused.

"Next is the ruling caste, the Prophets." The image showed an alien with a bulbous head and orange skin wearing a red robe, a type of crown, and sat in a type of hovering chair as a group of Jackals stood lined up below it, rifles aimed at humans in civilian clothing on their knees with their hands over their heads. The Prophet raised one hand lazily, and every Jackal fired-at that point the cameraman turned the recording device away as he vomited his guts out in his hiding place.

"The Prophets rule the rest of the Covenant and are regarded as spiritual leaders ,led by three Grand Prophets: Truth, Mercy, and Regret." Curana summed up her information on the covenant. "They believe the humans defile Forerunner ruins on their colony worlds, and have burned over three hundred planets and an estimation of six billion out of the total one hundred three billion that make up humanity. Their ships and weapons are based on Forerunner designs, and they are so powerful...as I said they burn planets...I meant it literally."

The next images horrified the council, who were forced to see large ships rain plasma down on planets until they were nothing but balls of glass. Cities burned, humans executed, human soldiers gunned down as they fled.

Then it changed to a different view, this one of humans standing victoriously, forcing Covenant lines back as one of their tank vehicles tore up their ranks.

"The Humans are led by the UNSC, the United Nations Space Command, which has an armada of under three thousand ships. Carefully tracing hidden transmissions, I have seen their capital planet, known as Earth. The hologram showed a blue planet covered by hundreds of stations and ships. "The armada in their main system, Sol, consists of over seven hundred ships, four hundred of which defend Earth at all times along with 247 orbital guns that use the UNSC Magnetic Accelerator Cannon to such effect that each can hold fifty rounds and fire it at such a pace that they can gut several Covenant ships at once, making these the most effective weapon the UNSC possesses. But still, with the Covenant pushing, it may only be a matter of years before the humans are pushed back to their inner colonies, and decades before they are extinct. The Covenant Fleet has a spear head right into their territory leading to this next world."

A planet was highlighted in a map of the UNSC territory. "This planet is code named Stronghold, and it is mostly a military planet, but with a population of over three hundred million. It is one of two famous fortress worlds the humans have ever created, the other having been destroyed only recently. The other one, Reach, had a fleet of over a hundred and fifty vessels defending it, and twenty orbital defence stations. Stronghold seems to have become the focus of the humans since the loss of Reach."

A chart began to show statistics of ships ,troops ,and defences.

"Before the Reach Invasion, which took well over a week to accomplish before all human orbital defences were destroyed, Stronghold possessed ninety six ships. Two of them were Super Carriers which are now finished construction, three carriers, and two battle cruisers. It also had fifteen orbital stations."

"Within the two months since Reach however..." The chart changed. "The planet now possesses well over two hundred-fifty vessels. Another Super Carrier, another regular Carrier, two of their battle cruisers, and three cruisers of the obsolete Halcyon class have been added to this armada along with battle groups that were once on patrol for surviving colonists in nearby systems. And three new orbital stations have finished construction. Along with this, the humans have moved over two million of their colonial marine forces to this planet along with members of their air force. This planet could withstand the Citadel Fleet for months, but I believe that would only be the case because we do not allow the use of nuclear weaponry, destruction of civilian population centers, or the destruction of entire continents by orbital bombardment. The covenant however, has no problem with destroying planets and their resources, and may in fact do this soon."

The screen changed to show images of a massive station. "This station is barely one percent the size of the citadel, but it is currently the focus of over four hundred covenant warships. To be precise, four hundred-thirteen." She showed images of covenant fleets gathering around the station. "This station is barely a stone's throw away from the Stronghold Colony, and this fleet would be able to reach it within several hours using their FTL drives."

"A war, and a large one at that, which has been happening right where we did not think to ever look." The Salarian spoke more to himself than the others. "This is not good. As you have said this could result in the extinction of the humans, but at the same time I cannot see how much use we would be in this war except for extending it beyond the Local Cluster."

"We cannot just stand by and let genocide be committed, and all in the name of a blasted religion!" Curana objected.

"Spectre Curana, try to see this from our point of view. If we choose to commit fleets to this Covenant-Human war, than it would be committing every single being in Citadel and Terminus Space to it as well." The Turian tried to reason with her. "We cannot rush in blindly. We need information, we need strategies, and we need to be certain that we can prevail without destroying ourselves in helping either side."

"If I recall, the Council recently commissioned the construction of the Seraph Cruiser design." Curana said. "It would possess the best stealth technology available in either citadel or Terminus Space. Perhaps one of these vessels could monitor both factions to learn more about them and help to create a plan for how you can intervene."

The councillors exchanged a look.

"Spectre Curana, this would be putting the one advantage we have at risk: Secrecy." The Asari, Lorania replied. "If either faction were to discover us, they may react with hostilities."

"But if we bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away, they will eventually expand beyond their cluster." Curana said. "And they don't rely on relays like we do Council, if they can travel between systems without them, then what happens when they travel between clusters? And what if by then they aren't in the mood for peace talks?"

This made a good point to the council, but they were still hesitant.

"We will need time to discuss this, Spectre Curana." The turian said. "We shall summon you once we decide."

Bowing her head, the Spectre left the Council, who then went to their private chambers to converse.

"It would be risky to throw such precious technology out there and hope it is good enough to remain hidden." The Salarian stated. "But...the Seraph Alpha has finished construction and has been given its test run. IT has proven to evade our greatest scanning equipment."

"But what if this Covenant has greater technology in the area of finding their enemies and snuffing them from their hiding places?" The Turian asked. "If they captured the Alpha, or if the humans did, we would be handing over technology that not even we could fight against."

"A good point, but if we take certain measures, we could allow the Seraph to monitor this conflict and send periodic reports back to us." The Asari pointed out. "A mass effect core set to detonate would eliminate any trace of technology in the event of capture."

"So we would ask our people to throw away their lives just to snap some photographs for us?" the Turian asked.

"Spectre Curana is correct, we cannot afford to turn our backs to this." The Salarian spoke. "We have sworn to uphold peace and settle disputes, what are we if we do not obey the laws which this council was founded upon?"

The three sat in silence, pondering their decision.

Xxx

**Stronghold, Seguridan Continent, Camp Zero**

**Training Field Omega**

**SPARTAN II Training Exercise**

**February 14, 2553**

Nobody knew this, but after the successful creation of an entire platoon of the legendary Spartan super soldiers, ONI had been given permission to create another batch in the same way Dr Halsey had done so, but for the less acceptable tasks that not even NavSpecWep would undertake. They had recruited over one hundred candidates, ranging from six year olds to marine trainees-all of them separated by age of course. When the regular training was complete, all one hundred-four members of ONI's SPARTAN Omegas were still alive, well, and now well trained and disciplined. But then, upon discovering files from the previous Spartan II project, one candidate, Jackson O-014 tried to escape.

Jackson had been brought in as a thirteen year old, and had tried escaping for an entire year before he accepted the training. He stole a pistol this time, from one of the guards and killed nineteen people, including seven Spartans before he was put down by another Spartan Omega, the current ranking officer of Omega Company, Spartan O-067 Chase. Chase was similar to the Master Chief in a few ways: he was not the strongest, the fastest, or the smartest; neither needed that to make the best decisions for the team. Chase had only lost two team members over the following decades of espionage and war.

Chase was formerly Chase Berger, a sixteen year old colonist who was born on Harvest in 2526. He had resisted for five times as long as Jackson had, and even tried to help Jackson escape for the first year. In the end, Chase broke Jackson's right arm and stabbed him in the throat before he gave him a quick mercy killing with a shot between the eyes.

Chase...a French name, a nickname for hunters in old times. Chase only had one aspect that made him different from his comrades: he was never surprised by anything, and this was because he was the hunter, he thought out every angle of a fire fight and he was never 'tagged' in these exercises. This was proven by the eleven Spartans he had tagged with paint ball bullets or tagged them with his hands on the sensor pads built into the training armour.

IF you were tagged ,your opponent had the time to kill you, and you never knew it until you were dead or dying. For some pressure pads, you had a few seconds to try to tag your opponent and take him down with you. The armour was designed so that when a tag was hit and was non lethal it would begin to constrict and slow your movements. Chase did not know how this felt, he was never tagged.

He was perched in a branch, looking at the abandoned ODST style helmet and discarded M6D hand gun and three spare ammo clips that lay below him. He closed his eyes and waited until a man stepped into view. He was a Spartan Omega no doubt, one of the main combat operators, not a covert operative like Chase. It was a simple matter of leaping down, bringing the man down under his weight, and slapping the pressure pads on the Spartan's neck. The Spartan sighed as his suit acknowledged his 'death' and said. "Ah shit."

Chase grabbed his pistol. "That doesn't describe it, monsieur. You are dead. Bang!" He suddenly turned and fired one simple shot and hit a woman who leaped out of the bushes right in the chest plate, leaving a red mark on it. She fell, her armour saying she died. "And you two are so predictable. I watched you ambush your last two opponents a mile back. You came out and let them focus on you, then your partner attacked from behind..." He whispered into the man's ear. "And then your other partner comes from the opposite side." Just before a gun shot rang out Chase forced the man's head up, and a red paint splatter appeared on his visor as Chase fired over his head three times.

A third Spartan fell out of the bushes, and Chase stood up.

"Real clever, but you three need to seek out the best opponents first, and never repeat your strategy." He then collected his helmet and put it on. "See you later." He took off into the bushes.

The first Spartan, Ronald O-033 sighed. "Wise ass."

"That wise ass is our commander." The second Spartan, Natalie O-083 pointed out.

"He's still cocky." The third Spartan, Wallace O-042 said as he got up. "Come on, let's go."

"He only acts like that because he knew what would happen. He knew nobody else was around but us. He knew our strategy." Natalie said as they began the trek back to base.

"Yeah, well one day he won't be in complete control of the situation, and then he has to clean up all the shit that eventual mess will leave for him." Wallace snapped. "One day, his pretty little plans will have a flaw, and he won't be able to see what happens next because that's just it: he never plans for what to do if he loses because he's never fucking lost. Not against us, not against rebels, and not against covenant."

"Guys, the day he loses and a plan goes wrong...that's the day one of us or one of our brothers or sisters die. It's the day dozens or hundreds of humans die." Natalie said. "Even if he gloats a bit...he does his job and his plans always involved keeping us alive and our enemy dead."

They didn't say anything, they felt too guilty, and the reason?

Because they had savoured the day Chase O-067 let innocent people die.

Xxx

**UNSC Heavy Frigate 433 **_**Widow**_

**High Orbit over Stronghold**

Captain MacDaniel took a sip of his usual late night coffee. "Status of Patrol Delta Three?"

"Delta Three, please relay sit rep to Heavy 433." An officer requested through a comm. Link with one of the patrolling fighters.

"Heavy 433 this is Patrol Picket Delta Three, am still on course and have no sign of hostile contacts." The pilot of the Long Sword fighter replied.

"Continue with your route Delta Three, we'll see you in seventeen minutes, Heavy 433 out." The officer returned to his duties.

"Sir, Pelican Sierra 336 is on approach to port hangar bay with our latest transfer of leather necks." MacDaniel's XO, Lieutenant Commander Murdoch informed the Captain.

"Permission to land approved, make sure the ground pounders feel welcome." MacDaniel set his cup down. "Make sure Delta Three meets up with us in time, we need to be in geo synchronous orbit for this pickup and get moving faster than bats out of hell after it's complete."

"Delta Three's trajectory will bring him into range for docking Captain, I monitor it several times every second." The image of a man appeared on a pedestal next to MacDaniel's half empty coffee cup. The man wore clothing you'd never see today. A formal black coat, black trousers, a white dress shirt, black knee high boots, white gloves, all of these made the handsome man look like a prince. "I'm here for more than to be a pretty face for you to stare at all day."

"I remember that all too well Sebastian." MacDaniel said before taking another sip. "But answer me this old friend, why pull us this far out near the covenant for a pick up?"

"This world is well defended Captain MacDaniel." Sebastian pointed out.

"So was Reach." The middle aged man scoffed. "When they signed me to this rig I thought it was a waste of time. Now I admit they give us some important crap to shovel for them but it's all crap none the less. They make me do things in the back ground where nobody notices a frigate do anything, and then ship me out here to play delivery boy...I gave up asking for answers long ago though so I won't try now."

"A wise course of action Captain." Sebastian said.

"Shut up." MacDaniel replied flatly.

"Returning to my duties sir." Sebastian vanished.

Xxx

"Spartan 067!" The Sergeant barked across the training yard, which was filled with fifty six of Omega Company's surviving eighty one members.

"Yes Sergeant?" Chase and his opponent set their knives down. Their arms were sufficiently covered in small nicks and cuts, just how the Omegas practiced: cut your sparring partner, but control the cut so its only as deep as you wish it to be. It made good practice to try fighting your opponent but try not to kill them if you got used to it.

"Yes _sir._" The Sergeant corrected him.

Tilting his head, Chase said. "Corporal Patton!"

"Yes Lieutenant?" Chase's sparring partner nodded.

Chase nodded. "That'll be all." He looked at the Sergeant. "Please repeat yourself _Sergeant._"

"Uh...sorry sir, you're requested in the communication hub, you have a transmission from General Norris." The Sergeant said, backing down, as did his two companions.

"Thank you sergeant." Second Lieutenant Chase 067 left the training field and went right to the communications hub without delay.

He approached a personal computer set aside for him at one end of the dimly lit shack-there was no better way to describe Omega camp than as metal shacks so he just called it how he saw it. He took an ear piece from the console as it glowed to life, and an image of General Norris appeared on it.

"Lieutenant, did I catch you at a bad time son?"

"No pops, just the daily knife spar, you saved me six or seven cuts." Chase replied. "What is the official purpose for this call, sir?"

"We have a pickup arranged to happen soon, in the next hour actually, just seven miles west of Omega Camp at the coast." Norris said. "A pelican will deliver the package to the UNSC _Widow_ as it makes a pass in orbit. Quick, clean, and unseen. But there's a problem, the outpost has gone dark, and the convoy that delivered the package there reported in an hour ago that they had delivered it and never left according to my aerial view."

"What's the package sir?"

"The greatest weapon of any being in the universe Lieutenant, information. And this information could very well save our asses before Stronghold ends up like Reach." Norris said. "Meet Second Lieutenant Theresa Shaw, she was in charge of making sure that when the package reached the Widow, it stayed on the Widow." The image of a woman Chase's age, with dark blue eyes and dark hair not unlike his own appeared on the screen.

"General ,my men loaded up twenty minutes ago and they'll meet me on the Widow once I have the package ready for delivery." Shaw said.

"Shaw, meet Lieutenant 067." Norris said.

"Oh, an Omega." Shaw said, sounding disappointed.

"I take it you don't like Spartans." Chase said.

"No, just Omegas. The ones you see in the news fight on the front and kill hundreds of enemies each time they step into the fight. There's almost three times as many of you and you just sit here and apparently play delivery boy." Shaw replied coldly.

"Ouch. Hey sweet heart, I don't decide what happens with my company, I just decide how I do it without getting someone killed. Besides, we fight Covenant...we just never get acknowledged for it. Can't let ONI's Head Office's dirty little secret get leaked out to one of their own divisions. NavSpecWep wouldn't like us being made behind their backs."

"I don't care either way. I'm from the Covert Actions division of ONI, kind of like their SWAT team." Shaw said.

"And you say I sit here and play delivery boy when they have you in their back pocket." Chase said.

"Enough both of you." Norris said. "Shaw and her team are ODST, they just have the official authority of Covert Actions Division behind them. When they aren't on the front lines they do jobs like this. Now, Shaw is going to meet you and your team at the outpost. You're to move in and investigate the lack of radio communication, and afterwards Shaw will move in and you will help her prepare the package for transport. After that you can part ways and never see each other again."

"Such a shame, I can tell it's love at first sight." Chase joked.

"Just do your job." Shaw said before she disconnected.

"...she acts liek you General."

"She's my second cousin."

"Does she know?"

"Do I give a crap?"

"Ah, good point. I'll get my Delta Team ready for deployment and meet her there in thirty minutes sir." Chase said.

"Good hunting Lieutenant."

"More like perfect hunting ,as usual." Chase disconnected and then got up to go prepare.

Xxx

Delta Team was made up of three Omegas.

One was the team's leader, Master Sergeant Nathaniel 'Nathan' O-092, or as he preferred his real name and the preferred shortened form of his first name: Nathan Creed. His armour was a dark brown, bordering on red or black, and his helmet was ODST style like Chase's. Nathan was loading a DMR. He had modified it to use an extended 25 round clip, and to have a suppressor built into it. He had an M6G on his right leg, and over his heart, painted on his armour under where his Bowie knife hang was a single, dark blue C. His helmet was off, revealing a man with short, dark hair and grey eyes. He had a thin layer of facial hair that may form into a beard one day and a small scar next to his mouth.

Nathan was actually the youngest of the team, only twenty three. He was recruited as a child like most. The other two were recruited as marines however. His code name was 'Prince'

Staff Sergeant Roy O-012 was the team's point man and demolition expert put into one. He used a sniper rifle, often keeping many spare clips of ammunition and his only other weapon was a knife. No pistol, no grenades, just a knife and a sniper rifle. He favoured stealth. His armour was a dark grey shade, and he had an ODST styled helmet like most Omegas favoured-keeping things basic and not fancy. Roy was in his mid thirties now, and had grey hair already and a thin beard. He had a scar that was more noticeable, much more, part of the right side of his face was burned and scarred horrifically on the cheek. It was a plasma burn that luckily hadn't killed him, but left him horribly scarred now. That was his nickname and code name, Scar. He had a blood red S drawn over his heart on his armour.

The third member of Delta Team was Staff Sergeant Sarah O-040. She was the heavy weapons expert and technician and medic all in one. She had traces of European and Asian in her appearance and accent. Her hair was pulled back into a small, low pony tail, and her green eyes had time to lock onto Chase before a Scout variant helmet went down over her face. Her armour was dark blue to the point of almost being black. She had her shot gun hung on her back, a pistol on her leg, and her usual surplus of grenades and her favoured grenade launcher cradled in one hand. She had a medical kit hung on her back also, and tools in compartments in her armour. Her code name was 'Smithy', since she was so talented at making and fixing things from people and animals to vehicles and knives or even a small sculpture Chase had caught her making a year back.

"Officer on the deck!" Prince barked as he stood up, his two underlings mimicking him.

"At ease Delta," Chase said. "Command wants us to help one Lieutenant Shaw secure a package, high importance, even I don't know what the hell it is. It's located seven miles west of here at an out of the way outpost. We're gonna go in, see why the boys over at this outpost haven't remembered how to use their damn talk boxes, secure the package for transport, and then hand it off to Miss Shaw so she can take it up for a frigate to grab and transport out of system."

"Well, if it needs us to make sure its wrapped up nicely for ONI then it must be important." Scar said as he hefted his sniper rifle.

"Load up, we'll be taking a Falcon. Smithy, Prince, you'll remain on the heavies for air cover in case things get ugly. We'll send me in through the front door, and Scar will be dropped where ever he deems fit to be a nice little sniper's nest." Chase grabbed a pistol from its rack, slid a clip in, and chambered a round. "We'll be bringing Twist as our pilot."

Twist, or Edward O-077 was one of the few Spartans not assigned to a fire team, but rather as a lone pilot who would be randomly assigned to assist certain teams. Ever since the new Saber fighters had been developed, Twist had spent the last few weeks learning how to use them and had a damn good time doing so. Twist was already out on the airfield where he would be prepping his personal Falcon, Omega 66.

"Ah great, so let's remember to bring the bags then." Prince joked, referring to how Twist's flying-even while not in combat could make stomachs churn.

"Get moving Delta!"

Xxx

When the team finally gathered out near Delta 66, Chase met them in full Mjolnir armour and carrying a battle rifle with a pistol attached to his leg and a shotgun slung on his back. His armour was a deep dark red, bordering on black like Smithy's armour. He put his helmet on. "Comm. Check!"

"Delta One, check." Prince said as he climbed in and took position on one of the heavy machine guns.

"Delta Two, check." Scar said, chambering around into the massive sniper rifle he cradled in his arms.

"Delta Three, check." Smithy reported as she took the second machine gun.

"Delta Six-Six One, check." Twist said from the cockpit of the Falcon. "Thank you for flying Air Twister."

Chase climbed in and took a seat across from Scar. "Alright, if anybody sees a mean lady in an ODST style get up, try not to shoot her, that would be Shaw herself and I don't think Norris would be happy if she ended up with her head split in half, Scar that goes double for you." He looked at the sniper, who shrugged.

"For the ninth time sir, it was an accident, and the guy was dying anyways, that Elite just used him as a shield...which didn't even work out." Scar replied.

"Still, check your targets first. For all we know it's just a damn malfunction." Chase said. "Take off Twist."

The Falcon slowly rose into the air, rising above the fog that covered Omega Camp.

Scar whistled. "Love the view."

The Falcon took off towards Outpost Foxtrot 5.

Xxx

End of chapter


	2. Chapter 2

Mass Effect Wars

Nice to see I got some reviews.

A few things I'd like to point out though...

The station mentioned was not High Charity. It was more like the station mentioned in First Strike, which only held 500 ships. The citadel is able to hold at least 11 million or more people plus the keepers. Next, in this the citadel species have advanced several more centuries, and I'm trying to bring the technological gap closer together so it's more of an even fight. Though you do have a point ,the reaction could have been bigger, I'm not exactly good at portraying politicians, that would be the specialty of my partner in crime-I mean co author Lord Maximus.

Either way, enjoy ze story!

Xxx

Chapter Two

**Citadel Station, Serpent Nebula**

Spectre Lania Curana was recalled to the Council Chambers, and all delegates were ordered to vacate the upper section of the chambers so they could speak privately. The spectre stood in a formal dress instead of combat armour. She still had a pistol strapped to her hip and radiated her lethal nature, something not even the gentle smile she had could hide.

"Spectre Curana, we have reviewed the information you have provided on this conflict in the Local Cluster and have come to a decision." Lorania announced.

"We have decided that direct action will be necessary in order to prevent the loss of lives, human, covenant, or otherwise." Wrana said. "We shall be dispatching the Seraph Alpha model into the Local Cluster to investigate human and covenant culture, tactics, and technology. During this time we shall prepare three combat fleets to send into the cluster to enforce a ceasefire on the two factions."

"It is mostly for the sake of the humans, as your data has pointed out that the covenant have not even acknowledged attempts to surrender or negotiate." Libran added. "We have appointed two spectres to the Seraph Reconnaissance Operation."

A Turian with grey scales stepped out from behind the council's side of the chamber. He wore dark armour and was very familiar to Lania.

"Here is our first Spectre, Mae-"

"Maevor Sarius, former Turian Special Infantry. We've met a few times." Curana said.

"Lania Curana, former C Sec and at one point an Asari Commando. In fact last I met you it had been in your office discussing evidence you wanted me to hand over to C Sec, specifically the only weapon I had on me at the time."

"Protocol was protocol and it still is. Wasn't my fault you let that gang catch and disarm you, that gun was used to murder a man and I would have provided you with one from the Spectre Armoury." Curana shrugged. "Besides, you're still alive, right?"

"Point taken...who is to be my partner Councillors?" Maevor looked at the council.

"You're looking at her, Spectre Sarius." Wrana said.

The two Spectres looked at each other.

"Well...this just got more interesting." Maevor commented.

Xxx

"Foxtrot 5 Actual this is Delta 66 requesting open communications." Twist said into the built in radio. "Repeat, Delta 66 to Foxtrot 5 we are requesting open communications, please respond Foxtrot 5."

There was no answer on the radio. "Well Chase, no luck with the radio."

"As I expected," Chase chambered a round in his magnum. "Bring us in Twist, set me down as close as you can to the front entrance and find Scar a cozy little sniper's nest."

"Got it sir. I'll switch to radio silence until you give me a call." This was the usual protocol for inserting an Omega in the event of a hostile force: radio silence until the commander speaks.

The Falcon descended into the trees, where Chase hopped out of it and gripped his battle rifle. He looked up as the Falcon ascended above the trees and vanished to go find Scar a vantage point. Chase could see the gate of Outpost Foxtrot 5. The trail went down in a bit of a wide ditch with an over turned warthog and a few crates left in it. Chase rushed down into the ditch and then crawled up to the other side. He examined the open gate of Foxtrot 5 and then rushed it until he was pressed against the wall next to the gate. He stuck his rifle around the corner and then moved into the main yard, which was empty. "Delta Actual to all units, I'm at the main entrance."

"Delta 66 here, Delta 2 found himself a cozy little guard tower." Twist replied. "But there's no sign of anyone from up here. I don't see any movement, lights, or damage to the complex."

"Maintain minimal safe distance from the complex, stay low and out of the way, and move in if I give you the signal." Chase said. "Prince, Smithy, eyes sharp and whatever you do if you need to do anything but sit on your asses ,don't shoot me."

"Got it sir." Prince replied.

Chase moved into one of the buildings, which turned out to be one of the garages. There was a half assembled warthog waiting to be completed and another one with its engine removed along with its gun turret and ammunition case.

"Garage One, clear." He reported.

"I see it." Scar whispered over the link. "Alright, that building connects to the Barracks, I'd check them next."

"I'll get on it." Chase activated the flashlight on his rifle and moved towards a hatch marked 'Marine Barracks'.

He opened it, swinging it open and jamming his rifle through. He moved into the barracks and shut the door behind him. The barracks, unlike the garage had something in it. "Ah shit."

Bodies, dozens of them, lined up and pinned against the walls through their hearts with what looked like spears. "UH...I'm sending an image to you Delta 66." He snapped a few shots with his helmet mounted camera.

"Holy shit...transferring them to Command." Twist said.

"Scar, meet up at the barracks. Twist, drop Prince and Smithy down here, I don't think we have any enemies to worry about but we need to look for survivors." Chase commanded.

"Yes sir!" Twist replied.

"I'm already at the front door." Good ol'Scar, sneaky as ever.

As Scar came in through the door Chase used, the Falcon set down outside and deposited Prince and Smithy, who rushed inside and joined them.

"Damn." Prince said.

"Sergeant Creed, we need to look for survivors." Chase faced Delta Team. "Twist, I'm bringing home a souvenir." He pulled a spear out of a body that was impaled in the floor. He took the dead marine's dog tags, repeating this with the other marines. He looked at the intricate design that went into the spear. "This is a little big for a human."

"Uh...boss, remember the pictures you sent to command? I got a reply. That design of close combat weapon has been seen a few times used by Elites, some sort of honour guard for their prophets!" Twist said.

"The Covenant!" Creed pulled out his pistol and held it in both hands as he swept the room.

Scar drew his knife and held it in a reverse grip while scooping up an SMG left by a dead marine after taking a moment to check the clip. Once seeing it was full he held each weapon in one hand and proceeded towards the door that led to another section of the base exterior. Smithy aimed her shotgun at the door, and Chase raised his battle rifle.

Prince swung the door open with one hand, and all four Spartans leaped out only to find six guns pointed back at them by six humans n pitch black armour. One of them, Theresa Shaw lowered her shotgun. "Stand down!"

"Lieutenant Shaw, good to see you showed up on time." Chase lowered his battle rifle.

"Spartans? Well stamp me on the forehead and mail me back to Earth." One ODST commented, possessing a light southern US accent and the chevrons of a Staff Sergeant.

"IS this all you brought with you Shaw?" Chase asked.

"I have two more men guarding our vehicles." Shaw said. "My second squadron is up on the frigate, waiting for us to secure the package."

"Well, the place is devoid of any life Shaw, there's over thirty bodies in the barracks, all of them skewered. Looks like an execution style." Prince said. "And worse, the spears match that of Covenant Elite Royal Guards."

"Covenant on Stronghold? Impossible!" Shaw shook her head.

"Uh...Lieutenant?" Scar spoke.

"What?" Shaw tiled her head.

"Get down!" Scar shoved her aside and raised his rifle, firing a single shot from it that almost deafened the surrounding ODSTs.

They looked to his target, a Jackal that fell off of the top of the command hub a hundred yards away.

"The bastard had a beam rifle, would have punched through your armour." Scar said. "You can thank me later ma'am."

"I'll remember that Sergeant." Shaw said. "Everybody get ready, there's bound to be more! Green, Jones, are the vehicles secure?"

The Spartans picked up a reply. "We're under fire ma'am! Grunts, two squads! We're using one of the 50. Cal guns to hold them back but thee might be more soon! Shit, elite! Focus on him Jones, I'll handle the grunts!"

"Hold your position if you can soldier, we're on our way!" Shaw looked to the Spartans. "Can I assume you'll go with us?"

"You'd be correct if you did ma'am." Chase nodded. "Delta, move out!"

But before anyone took a step, plasma fire came down on them. All ten humans managed to get to cover in time, hiding behind the shacks and some abandoned vehicles. One of Shaw's men loaded rocket launcher. "Give me a target!"

"I'll spot the little pricks for you!" Scar peered through the scope of his rifle as the gun fire calmed down. "Alright, I see them, towards the command post, fifty meters and closing, far side of the path. Eight grunts, two Jackals and an elite...all in black armour."

"Spec Ops!" Prince whispered.

"Boss I see three Banshees and two Phantoms closing in on you, I'd double time it!" Twist said. "And I got word from the Frigate, they're sending down a flight of Pelicans, one for the package and two Escorts! ETA is eleven minutes!"

"Take out as many as you can Lieutenant, but don't you dare get yourself killed." Chase ordered the pilot.

"Aye-aye sir, locked and loaded!" Twist replied.

"Alright, thirty meters...fire!" Scar shouted.

The marine stepped from cover in a crouch and fired both rockets before the squadron of Covenant could react. The missile blew away one of the Jackals and three of the grunts. As the Corporal took cover the covenant team opened fire. The elite wielded a plasma repeater while the grunts used Spikers and plasma pistols. The Jackal had a beam rifle and was trying to pick a target.

"Toss a grenade in!" Shaw shouted as she fired a burst and then took cover to avoid getting her head blown in half by the Jackal.

"Got it!" Smithy tossed one out into the open.

They heard the Elite shout something before the grenade went off. Upon checking, Chase saw only two Grunts fleeing. Prince raised his pistol and put two rounds into one while Shaw put a burst into the other.

"Alright, move it people!" Chase rushed down the path. "Which way are the vehicles Shaw?"

"Right past the command hub, it's a straight run! Washington, take Eckhart and Thompson on the left flank! Reese, Parker, you're with me on the right!" Shaw yelled as her squad split up and moved down the path along the sides, covering the opposite side and fire team with their weapons.

"Smithy, try to put that launcher to some use!" Chase shouted before plasma fire erupted, and grunts poured out of the main entrance of the command hub. The hub was essentially a three story block with communications relays on top-now melted and several destroyed auto turrets on each corner of the building and two entrances.

An Elite leaped down from the top of the hub, a plasma sword flaring to life before the elite vanished.

"IT has optic camouflage, eyes sharp!" Shaw ordered.

"Prince, you got this?" Chase asked, pressed up against an overturned Warthog as he fired around the front fender into the grunts.

"Just give me some cover!" Prince replied as Smithy fired one grenade into the grunt ranks and blew three of them away.

"You heard him, cover fire, Eckhart cover the left, and Thompson cover the main entrance!" Sergeant Washington barked as he slid fresh clip into his assault rifle. "And damn it Parker don't blow off bullets like candy, try to actually aim before you-!" Washington was silenced when his chest exploded outwards, a set of plasma blades extending from it. The elite cut upwards through Washington's left shoulder, spurting blood on his two companions, who spun and fired their assault rifle and shotgun into the Elite as it became visible.

The elite's shields flashed and fell as Shaw's fire team focused on the Elite also, and the alien was filled with over thirty rounds and pellets before it collapsed, dead. Eckhart and Thompson took a moment too long to be thankful they lived when another Elite appeared behind their barricade and brought his blade to life.

"Watch out!" Shaw shouted.

But suddenly Prince's foot slammed into the Elite's left knee, which buckled and put the Elite off balance, making its sword slice into the cement barricade instead of the humans behind it. Prince didn't waste any time slamming his bowie knife hilt deep into the elite's neck and ripping it out the side, squirting more blood on the pair of ODST. Finishing the elite off with two more stabs to keep it down, Prince scooped up the holstered plasma repeater and fired on the Grunt squadrons that were forming up.

Smithy advanced next to him, firing her grenade launcher. Scar fired his SMG in short bursts, always landing head shots for every three rounds he fired and Chase picked off Grunts with his battle rifle. Between the Spartans and the ODSTs the covenant platoon was eliminated with no other losses besides Washington and only a plasma burn to Parker's right arm.

"Shit, my XO is dead...Corporal Reese, congratulations; you're the new senior NCO." Shaw said to Reese as the nine humans cautiously advanced out into the center of the base.

Scar suddenly shouted as a beam shot slammed into his shields. A second one spun him around and made him drop his rifle as he rolled behind cover. "Sniper!"

Eckhart took a shot through the leg and screamed as he fell, his shotgun going off once and the shot went wide.

"Shit!" Chance, Prince, and Smithy fired in the general direction of the sniper's position on top of a nearby guard tower using their pistols and their handy 2x zoom feature. Each Spartan fired two shots and missed, giving the Jackal a chance to take down Smithy's shields before she crouched into cover.

"We need that rifle!" Scar yelled. "Give me a distraction!"

"I got it!" Shaw shouted, and without hesitation rushed into the open, firing from the hip towards the tower. She kept her speed predictable, moving only for two full seconds before she stopped moving to the left and pushed with her left foot, lurching to the right as a plasma beam passed through where she had been a moment ago. In that time Scar rolled from cover and brought his sniper rifle up. He fired one shot, and two seconds later reported. "He's down."

"Eckhart ,are you alright?" Shaw asked.

"I put some foam in the wound ma'am, if we reach the vehicles and get him some medical attention he'll be alright." Reese reported as gun bursts rang out from behind the command hub.

"We parked the warthogs outside the vehicle entrance; it was shut so we scouted the base out on foot." Shaw explained as she, Thompson and Parker took point while Reese helped Eckhart.

"Delta, flank around the far side and check your targets!" The ODST squad and the Spartan fire team circled around both sides of the building and caught the three jackals, two Elites, and seven grunts caught unaware in a pincer as they fired into both sides. Scar took down one Elite while the two defending marines took this chance to get back on the main gun of one of the three Warthogs and let loose into the crowd.

It was over in twenty seconds.

"Alright! That is what I call a rescue!" One marine, Jones cheered.

"Get Eckhart loaded up. Thompson, go with them. Reese, Parker, you two are coming with me, we'll secure the package for transport." Shaw said.

"Scar, you go with the marines, an extra hand will be plenty of help." Chase said. "Twist, we have wounded, rendezvous with them outside the base and evac PFC Eckhart."

"I can still fight! I can use the turret!" Eckhart objected.

"Let it go Eckhart, we can't afford to have heroes." Shaw said sternly. "Lieutenant 067, I can lead you to the package, it should be over in hangar C, if we just move it onto a landing pad for the Pelicans they can pick it up."

"Alright, let's get going!" Chase nodded.

Scar helped Eckhart get onto one of the turrets-he could at least use it to cover their escape while Jones took the driver's seat. Green took the turret of the second one while Thompson drove, and Scar drove the third Warthog-he could easily climb out or use his SMG in one hand if needed.

The squad went west to three rows of four landing pads each with four hangars on the north side of them. Shaw pointed out the hangar before plasma fire hit the ground. A Phantom hovered over the helipads and dropped down Elites, dozens of them, thirty in total, all wielding repeaters, plasma rifles, and beam rifles.

"Holy crap!" Chase shouted before the six fighters took cover behind an over turned warthog and a supply shack.

Smithy fired a grenade out into the crowd, but only got one Elite, the rest had spread out.

"Delta 66 we are pinned down with twenty nine hostiles supported by three light air craft and a gun ship moving in on us!" Chase shouted into his radio as three banshees flew overhead, trying to hit them with random bursts of plasma.

"I see them. Firing!" Suddenly bullets tore into one Banshee and ripped it and its pilot into a mix of scrap metal and bloody body parts. Delta 66 flew overhead, being flown flawlessly by Lieutenant 'Twist' as he fired again and again.

The two banshees stood no chance, being slower and less armoured than the Falcon, which took them both down in thirty seconds flat as the squadron tried to keep the advancing platoon back.

"Alright mother fucker, bring it!" Twist shouted as he circled the Phantom, firing into its armour as the side mounted turrets tried to lock onto him.

By now three more Elites had been taken out by the squad's combined effort.

"Ah crap, I'm out!" Reese said as he ejected the empty magazine from his assault rifle.

"Here!" Smithy gave him her shotgun and her bandoleer of shells.

Jacking one shell in, Reese thanked her and opened fire on the Elites, hitting one that got close and knocked it off its feet.

"Hell yeah! I'm the biggest bad ass in these skies ass hole! You chose the wrong damn planet and the wrong damn pilot to mess with!" Twist taunted as he made passes over the Phantom, which slowly began to succumb to the precision fire by Twist.

"Parker, that launcher have any ammo left?" Shaw asked.

Parker nodded and set his rifle down for the launcher, which he aimed at the Phantom. He fired once, and struck one engine. The gun ship began to lose control until it crashed into one of the perimeter walls nearby and went up in flames.

"Boom baby!" Twist shouted. "Now to deal with these bitches!"

"Targets are marked Delta 66." Chase said as he activated a laser mounted on the tip of his battle rifle, it indicated one of the Elites and the general area to fire in.

"Alright, making a pass, but this is gonna leave me pretty much outta ammo!" Twist made three strafing runs, each time gunning down multiple Elites until barely four or five were left.

The six humans easily took the Elites out as they tried to regroup and retreat.

"Good timing, the Pelicans are two minutes out, hurry up and get that package ready!" Twist urged them.

The six humans rushed into Hangar C, and found an Elephant, a mobile combat platform used for battle field command.

"Alright, it must be inside this, let's take a look." Shaw said as she circled around to the back and looked into the main section of the massive vehicle. "Wow...look at this."

All six humans gathered and looked at what lay within the Elephant. It looked too big to be a 'package', but was bigger than a Warthog.

"Ah, Lieutenant, good timing." General Norris' voice said over the link. "Communications were down for a bit, looks like whatever was causing it got blown up judging from the massive amounts of debris our sat view is giving us. Is the package secure."

"We're moving it out into position now General." Shaw said. "But if you don't mind me asking...what is this?"

"This, Lieutenant is one of the single greatest weapons ever devised by the UNSC. I am not one who savours the idea of destruction but if this thing blows up a hell of a lot of covvies then I won't complain." Norris replied. "This is a Nova Bomb Lieutenant, a planet buster, and some of the egg heads think it could make a sun have an early demise and take a system with it."

"Holy shit." Prince said as he took off his helmet. "Are there more of these?"

"One was built on Reach, not sure if it ever got used though." Norris answered Master Sergeant Creed. "There are two more in development, I can only tell you that much since you all have the security clearance to know it, being Omegas and part of ONI's own personal SWAT team. Now get it ready, I want that thing off planet ASAP."

Xxx

**Citadel Station, Serpent Nebula**

**Nineteen hours later**

"So this is it." Lania Curana said as she and Maevor Sarius stepped out onto an observation post overlooking a dry dock, where a ship was in construction. IT was not the size of a cruiser, which was 600-700 meters long, but it was bigger than any frigate or destroyer she had seen.

((If you want a description, go look at ME Meets ST by Lord Maximus, we co-authored it, and for the record the ship design is mine along with Nathan Creed, Lania Curana, and Maevor Sarius, the rest of this belongs to the makers of Mass Effect and Halo.))

"This is it Lania, the Seraph class cruiser, the pride of the Citadel and soon to be a mobile command ship for any fleet admiral." Maevor nodded. "It's been redesigned to use a skeleton crew, a dozen or so crew in order to make room for the support company you'll be carrying on board; eighty men and women, all highly trained SGT, Commando, and Special Infantry. Add us into the mix and its quite formidable ship. We even added one of those MAC turrets to it, one of the types used on a human frigate, but with better penetration, we can hold thirty six rounds. I have to give humans credit, these guns could rip through our kinetic barriers in a few shots, and I'd hate to have one of their larger guns aimed at us."

"How bad is the covenant then?" Curana asked.

"With the converted energy shielding we should be able to hold several salvos against them, maybe two or three shots before our shields collapse, hopefully enough to take down their shields." Maevor shrugged. "That is...if we get caught."

"Well, nothing ever goes right for us, does it?" Curana asked.

"Where's the fun in life without surprises Curana?" Maevor asked.

"I've always preferred something more relaxing...but then again I joined the Spectres, so obviously something must be wrong with me." Curana said. "Let's just try to make sure we don't get everyone who goes with us killed along the way."

"Deal."

Xxx

**Stronghold**

**Delta 66 and Delta 89 on route to Camp Zero**

"The _Widow_ managed to get out of the system safely enough, and they managed to snap some pretty pictures for us too." General Norris said over the radio. "Covenant, thirty four ships, mostly corvettes and frigates but they have the mother of all super carriers with them. We estimate they'll be here in two days."

"Shit, they're really going to try for an invasion then?" Smithy asked.

"Affirmative Spartans. As of now I'm enacting Response code Omega Black, all Spartans are given commissioned officer ranks so they may be able to command friendly units on the ground and in the air. Lieutenant, you're a 1st Lieutenant now ,congratulations. Same with you Shaw, I need experts, that's why I fought tooth and nail to make Captain MacDaniel leave you and your team with me." Norris said.

"Thank you sir." Chase said.

"What's our plan General?" Shaw asked.

"When the covenant come in we think they'll hit a nice big city first. Luckily we have two platforms over New Haven, has a nice bulls eye painted on it and forty six million people." Norris replied. "Just in case I'm calling back all of our nearby patrols and battle groups. The frigate _Legionnaire _will coordinate with you ,it's your new mobile command post. It'll meet you at Camp Zero in- what the..." Norris trailed off. "Shit, more covenant, where the hell are they coming from? The Legion is under attack, reporting two phantoms with boarding parties. The frigate is only a few miles above you and heading for Camp Zero. Get there, grab a Pelican, and help them repel their guests."

"We got it sir." Chase nodded. "Delta team, you're still with me, you too Twist. You're my main team now."

"I'll forward your decision to Stronghold High Command. Delta team is now Omega, you're my ace in the hole now. Where I say you go, you go and leave nothing but dead aliens and smiling marines ready to send a nice image back to Earth of us winning." Norris said.

"I see the Frigate sir, looks like she's lowering down. The Captain's giving us permission to board, but he kindly requests we hurry before there's nothing left of the _Legion_." Twist said.

"Bring us in Twist." Chase nodded. "Omega, take whatever you need. I'm leader, Prince is Omega One"

As the Spartans loaded up with more ammunition, Twist angled the Falcon towards where the UNSC _Legionnaire _was slowly lowering itself to a reasonable altitude, flanked by fighters and Phantoms.

Xxx

End of chapter


	3. Chapter 3

Mass Effect Wars

Heh, I realized I left an incomplete sentence at the bottom of chapter two. _

Full sentence-

Chase: I'm Omega Leader, Prince is Omega One, Scar's Omega Two, Smithy's Omega 3, Twist is Omega 4. Try not to mix up your call sign like back on Jericho by the way Twist.

Twist: I told the Colonel I was sorry!

Xxx

Chapter Three

**UNSC Colony Stronghold**

**Delta 66 and Delta 89 Falcons on route to UNSC Frigate **_**Legionnaire**_

**Spartan Omega Team led response to Covenant boarding parties**

"Whoa damn!" Twist avoided being blown from the sky by a Banshee, moving along the part side of the Frigate. "Delta 89, give me some cover damn it, it's hard enough to drop troops into this baby while it's in mid air and moving!"

"I got it. Focus on getting to the hangar alive and I'll provide cover for you." Shaw reported from Delta 89 before the two machine guns mounted on the sides roared to life. The chin gun fired bursts of heavy ammunition that took two banshees out of the sky, clearing Delta 66 a more direct route to the frigate's open port hangar.

"Alright, thanks Lieutenant!" Twist yelled, firing his own Falcon's chin gun as he moved towards the hangar, bringing his VTOL up alongside the frigate and matching its speed. He slowed down, angling his Falcon so it went right into the port hangar. "Alright, we're in, jump!"

Below, as gunfire raged between two fire teams of marines alongside several armed pilots and technicians and several grunts led by a trio of Jackals the four Spartans leaped down, firing into the covenant troops. Smithy blew away one of the Jackals before it could turn with her shotgun and repeated this with two grunts and then swung her shotgun like a club, slamming it into a third grunt.

Scar pulled out his knife as he leaped on another Jackal and pulled its head back, slitting its throat and making a shot from its Needler go high, the crystals shattering on the side of the armoured Falcon. Picking up the Needler, he turned it on the lat Jackal, which managed to block the first burst of crystalline ammunition.

Sadly, it did not hold up against the grenade Prince tossed at its feet. The Jackal was tossed high into the air, its body laced with shrapnel. Prince focused his rifle on the retreating grunts, which were gunned down by the marines long before Prince expended his clip. Cries of victory filled the hangar deck.

"Alright, pilots grab a Longsword and get the hell out there! The Captain wants those Banshees cleared ASAFP!" The Sergeant in charge of the marine squadron barked. "Get the wounded to higher ground and get the turrets back online!"

"Prince, you heard him, if we don't have those guns back up the Covenant will pour more troops in here." Chase said.

Modern frigates had heavy turrets built around their hangars to prevent boarding parties. These particular ones fired anti fighter missiles, powerful enough to blow a Phantom from the sky in a few shots while smaller automatic turrets covered them from fighter attacks. Only two missiles turrets and three automatic ones remained. One missile turret rested on top of the hangar segment of the Legion with two automatic turrets guarding it while the other two turrets rested on the bottom side.

"The controls are up there, the service elevator was taken out so you might need to do some climbing." The Sergeant pointed to the Hangar Control Center, which had blood stained windows.

"I'm on it." Sergeant Creed rushed across the hangar to a segment of wall. Above him rested a cat walk, and there were no ladders to use.

He improvised by extending a set of claw like blades from his gauntlets. Some members of Omega Company possessed these blades, which could pierce thin metal walls or stone, would, whatever could be used for a Spartan to climb. This couple with a smaller set built into the bottom of the Spartans' boots designed to extend at the same time as the gauntlet blades allowed a Spartan to scale most walls. The interior walls of the hangar were not several meters thick like the exterior hull of the Frigate, but only two inches or so to prevent gun fire from piercing it and damaging any systems.

Sparks flew as Prince climbed the wall all the way to the cat walk. Retracting one gauntlet blade, he reached up, grasped it, and hauled himself up, retracting all of his blades. Not wasting time ,he rushed down the catwalk to the control center-or at least as close as he could get. He had ten feet of air between him and the control center and no time to waste, so he raised his DMR and fired four shots into one of the windows, shattering it. Several pilots and technicians cried out as they avoided falling shards of glass.

"Watch it!" One Pilot shouted before he and the three crewmen to help him manoeuvre and maintain the Longsword rushed up the ramp into one of the six fighters.

Prince leaped across the gap and landed in the control center, denting the floor as he rolled and came up in a crouch, face to face with a Grunt that had three bullet holes in it and four more grunts standing with shocked eyes as the Spartan gunned two of them down and slammed a third into the wall using the butt of his rifle to crush its head. The final one fired futilely at him before he simply shot it in the head, its plasma shots dissipating on his armour's shields.

The bodies of three UNSC technicians lay in pools of blood, their bodies charred from plasma bolts. One marine officer lay against a wall, clutching a pistol in one hand. He was weakly trying to reload his side arm before Prince crouched next to him. "Stand down sir, it'ss safe."

"A Spartan? Ah ha, knew you guys were real." The Lieutenant chuckled. "Don't worry about me, they only got me once, I'll get out of here on my own, do what you have to."

Helping the man out of the control room, Prince sealed the door behind the marine.

He tapped into the controls, and the turrets outside roared to life. "Defence turrets are online sir."

"Good, get back down here and let's clear this boat of all hostiles." Chase commanded, joining Scar, Smithy, and the marines away from the soon to be launched Longsword Squadron.

As soon as Prince joined them, two Longswords shot out of the hangar, guns blazing, followed by two more, tearing into the smaller and less armoured Banshees. As the fifth and sixth launched, Chase faced the gathered marines and Spartans. "Sergeant ,remain here and secure this hangar, those boys will need ap lace to land after they're done cleaning up out there. And get my Falcon a fresh load of ammunition."

Nodding, the marine faced his men. "You heard him, set up a barricade and contact the bridge, get somebody up in that control center and this time make sure their armed! Make sure that VTOL is loaded until it can't carry anymore bullets!"

"Captain, this is Spartan O-067 Lieutenant Chase, we've retaken the port side hangar and Longsword Squadron Bravo has been launched." Chase said into his radio as the seven marines scattered to take up positions and prepare the bay to repel boarders, assisted by what crew was left in the hangar.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Archer, the Captain is dead, what can I do for you Lieutenant?" A woman responded, appearing in Chase's visor.

"We need orders ma'am; I have three more Spartans ready to give your guests the boot." Chase said.

"Our ODST platoon is trying to hold the armoury and vehicle bay, but they're losing ground, fast." Archer said. "Get to the armoury and find Sergeant Major Buckley, he'll help you coordinate from there. We also have trouble over in weapon's control, it looks like the crew there was taken out and we have a covenant corvette incoming fast. I have twenty rounds ready to fire and Alpha Squadron will be in the air soon. Secure weapon's control and transfer command of the MAC to the bridge. We'll handle it from there."

"Omega Team, we're splitting up. Scar, you and I will head up to the armoury and vehicle bay and help secure them. Prince, take Smithy to Weapons Control and kill anything not human you find." Chase commanded as he faced his team. "Ma'am, we'll have your gun online and this ship cleared in ten minutes."

"We have eight until the corvette is in weapons range." Archer said dryly.

"Make that five minutes." Chase cut the connection. "Move out! Twist, help hold off the enemy air support out there!"

"Already working on it sir! Shaw and her team are clearing the starboard bay now!" Twist replied.

Outside, the pilot had already taken down six banshees, but more were showing up every second. Another Phantom tried to touch down on top of the Frigate so it could dig through the hull and drop troops in, but Twist fired into the gun ship's engines. Before it could begin to try to dodge it lost control and began to lurch. More fire herded it away from the Frigate, and moments later it exploded in a fireball, meaning the enemy lost another platoon.

"Better hurry man, I hate to see this Frigate after a Covenant ship is done with it." Twist added, focusing on another Banshee.

Moments later the second squadron of Longswords launched and engaged the Covenant aircraft. The dozen Longswords managed to outmanoeuvre and outgun the small Banshees and tear into the Phantoms with ease, but there was the matter of enemy numbers now.

Xxx

Chase raised his battle rifle and fired a single burst, cutting down the final enemy in the corridor, which had been occupied by an elite and three grunts before the two Spartans stepped in. A single high power round from Scar's rifle put the Elite down while Chase cut down the grunts. Sliding a fresh clip into his rifle, Chase led Scar around the next corner and through a set of doors where they came face t oface with two assault rifles.

"Whoa, stand down!" One marine said, lowering his weapon. "Sorry, didn't know the covvies out there ran into you two. Corporal Abram and this is Specialist Matthews."

"Where's the rest of your fire team?" Scar asked.

"All dead," Matthews looked to where the bodies of two marines lay. The ammo and weapons and dog tags had been removed and set in a pile next to the bodies.

"Is this the way to the vehicle bays and armoury?" Chase asked.

"If you head down this way you'll find the deployment elevator. It's used to send combat teams to Hangar C, the Pelican and deployment bay we use for deploying companies on the ground." Abram replied. "Fire Team Sierra might still be guarding it if they didn't bite the big one. I heard over the comm. that there were brutes running around, especially a big one with a fancy helmet."

"Chieftain." Scar and chase said at the same time.

"Where was it last spotted?" Chase asked.

"Last I heard Fire Team Gamma saw it heading for Weapon's Control." Matthews shrugged.

"Damn, the other half of my team is heading there." Chase shook his head. "Omega 1, Omega 3, this is Omega Leader, you may have a Brute chieftain in the vicinity of the Weapons control Center, this might mean he has a whole entourage with him."

"We copy Omega Leader, proceeding with caution." Sergeant Creed replied.

Xxx

Prince fired two pistols-one his and another he scooped up into the Grunt squadron. The Jackals and the Elite lay dead at his feet while Smithy used a turret she had torn from its mount to rip up the tide of Grunts. Soon over twenty Grunts, four Jackals, and another two Elites lay dead before them.

"Well, that's another Phantom load down." Prince noted as Smithy dropped the now empty chain gun.

"So what will we do about that Chieftain when we run into it?" Smithy asked, loading a grenade into her launcher.

"Well, we never really plan unless Chase is around, and considering he's listening to us right now I won't deviate from that." Prince shrugged. "When we find it, we'll make a plan for how to deal with it, for now we have another problem."

"What now?" Smithy looked around, and noticed what Prince was talking about: a shimmer in the air followed by a blade of plasma bursting to life.

Smithy rolled to the side under one blade while Prince ducked under the second Elite's blade and then leaped over it as the Elite tried to take his feet off. As he landed he slammed his right foot into the Elite's helmet between the eyes, dazing it long enough for him to empty both pistols into it. Not affected thanks to its shields and the fact that there were only three rounds in each of the pistols, the Elite tried to stab Prince through the chest, only for the Spartan to twist out of the way and bash the Elite in the side of the head with one pistol, sending it stumbling.

Smithy ducked under her Elite's blade and rolled back to avoid the plasma sword, which stabbed down into the floor next. She came up on her feet as she exited the roll and fired her shot gun once, and jacked another shell in before her shotgun's tip was severed from the rest of the gun by the plasma sword. Tossing the fragment at the Elite, Smithy moved aside as the blade came down again and drew her knife as she leaped on top of the Elite, now devoid of its shields thanks to her first and only shot. She slammed her knife down into the Elite's neck and tore it out, stabbing multiple times until the Elite ceased struggling and fell forward.

Prince avoided being bisected again and slammed his left knee into the elite's chin. As it got back up, he had a fresh clip in one of his pistols and raised it as the Elite moved to attack again. He fired one shot right into its right eye, going into its brain. The Spec-Ops elite fell without a sound, splattering blood on the floor.

"Fancy." Smithy commented, picking up a Plasma Sword.

"I'll say." Prince took up one of his own before he slid it into an armour compartment for later.

Smithy scooped up another shotgun to replace the one she lost, and found it was fully loaded. The two Spartan Omegas moved into what had been a corridor for escape pods, but it now was littered with the bodies of marines and covenant. Two Jackals were crouched over a dead woman, picking away at her corpse. A single shot from each Spartan's pistol put them down.

"Guys, hurry it up, the corvette is in sight and it's only a few minutes before it charges its guns!" Twist shouted over the radio. "Archer is trying to move the Legion further away, but the damn thing is gaining and fast!"

Xxx

**Seraph Alpha, on route to Stronghold**

"Lania, this is our main infantry team." Maevor began as he led Curana into the meeting room where four others were gathered. "I've personally served with them before and they are more than capable."

"Urdnot Ataca, our team's point man." Maevor pointed to what looked like the biggest Krogan Curana had ever seen. It had a sniper rifle in hand and was reassembling it. As soon as he was done, the Krogan slid a single round thermal clip in and chambered it. He looked to Curana and folded the rifle up.

"Battlemaster Sarius, I am ready for our mission." The Krogan nodded respectfully.

"I expect no less from a warrior such as yourself Ataca." Maevor nodded. "This is my comrade Lania Curana, treat her as you would me, she has earned it."

Ataca looked down at the tiny Asari, towering at 8 feet in height and carved out of muscle. "If you say that she is a warrior great enough to gain your respect, then she has gained mine as well." He bowed his head. "I await your command Battlemaster Curana."

"Thank you Urdnot Ataca, return to your duties until I summon you." Lania nodded, dismissing the Krogan.

"Genia Aesino, our heavy weapon's specialist and biotic specialist." A Turian woman finished loading her shotgun and nodded to Lania. She was slim, average Turian height, and under the black armour she wore she could have passed for a male. Her scales were grey, and her left eye was surrounded by a set of scars left from a claw. Her left eye was replaced with a single synthetic eye that glowed bright green.

"I have served in the Turian Special Infantry alongside Maevor and at one point I was even his commanding officer." Genia said. "Altogether I had twenty one years in the military followed by thirteen more in Covert Operations."

"If you were in Maevor's outfit, I'd believe you if you told me you were able to take on an army of Rachnii." Curana replied. "Turian Biotics are rare, but I hear they are expertly trained."

"The Turian military uses a grading system to judge how powerful a Biotic is based off of their use of Biotics in combat. It ranges upwards from one to one hundred-twelve." Genia said. "I rated ninety three after I managed to flip an APC, a Berserk MkIII Krogan Combat variant."

Curana had to admit she was impressed, not even she could lift a vehicle that size. "How much was it carrying?"

"The mercenaries had just finished loading it with ammunition for its heavy turret and fuel. They also had a full load of six passengers and two drivers." Genia replied.

"Impressive, I look forward to seeing them be used in combat." Maevor led her to the next specialist.

"Talo'Serath nar Idenna, our combat technician and everyman." Maevor introduced a Quarian to Genia.

The Quarian was of average build and size, clad in the usual enviro suit Quarians wore and draped with dark red cloth. He had a heavy pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, and was sharpening a knife that he slid into a sheath attached to his left thigh before he looked to Maevor and Curana.

(To those who read ME Meets ST, hold the applause)

"I didn't think the Council would let you bring a Quarian, we all know how Councillor Wrana feels about them." Curana said. "I won't judge you Talo'Serath, not until I hear what you have to say and see you fight."

"I have been on my pilgrimage for three years. I have travelled all across Citadel and Terminus Space and have learned Asari, Krogan, Batarian, Turian, Salarian, Volus, Drell, and Hanar dialects. I am perfectly capable of fighting up close or far away, and Mr Urdnot has already learned just how good I am after our recent spar." Talo looked to Ataca, who huffed.

"The spacer managed to leap on my back and jammed his hand in my mouth, pulled my tongue up and damn near tore it out. After that he landed a hit on my neck...and while I was catching my breath he got me in the balls." Ataca placed one hand on the armoured plating over his groin as if reliving the pain. "The Spacers are underestimated by the Citadel, they may be killed by the simplest of viruses, but they are physically on par with any Turian warrior."

"If the giant Krogan backs up your word, then I can only wait until I see them before I let myself doubt you again." Curana shook his hand. "Welcome aboard Talo'Serath."

"There will be the matter of an award Talo'Serath has been promised for his pilgrimage. Considering the risk and the implications of this mission the Council is giving him and his people something only you have been allowed to do for the past few months Lania." Maevor said. "Permission. Permission to open mass relays at will and explore systems for new planets. Their Admiralty has had a change of heart with the loss of one of the Live Ships, without it the Migrant Fleet cannot sustain itself for more than the next few months. The Quarians need a planet, or all seventeen million may be reduced to less than half of that number before next year."

"I'll see to it that you get home alive to your people then Talo'Serath." Curana promised the Quarian.

"The permission was already granted to my people." Talo admitted. "Personally I believe the Council hopes we run into something dangerous like the Rachnii, or that at the least the Migrant Fleet will no longer be a burden to them."

"For once I can see something from their point of view then." Curana turned to the speaker, the fourth Specialist on the team, a Batarian who looked strong enough to arm wrestle Maevor and win.

"This is Doro Escan, our driver, pilot, and part time assassin." Maevor said.

"Maevor offered to get me out from behind bars if I played nice on this mission." Doro grunted. "I got busted for pirating two years back, but I almost took Sarius out before his back up arrived and dragged me away in chains. I decided to take the smart option."

"Can I trust you not to turn on us?" Curana asked.

"Honey, we're going to be out in unknown space, who will I turn to? This Covenant that has the Council so worried? I doubt they'd like me any more than their current enemies." Doro Escan crossed his arms.

"Don't worry Lania, Doro is an honourable man and does not go back on his word." Maevor said. "Especially since he knows if he does for this I'll finish him off myself."

Doro grinned and lowered his visor. "Love you too, turian."

Xxx

"Guys, hurry it up, the corvette is in sight and it's only a few minutes before it charges its guns!" Twist shouted over the radio. "Archer is trying to move the Legion further away, but the damn thing is gaining and fast!"

"Tell her to swing the frigate around when Omega 1 and Omega 3 have the gun online." Chase said into his radio as he and Scar proceeded into a wide square room, mostly composed of an elevator. Three marines were retreating from a wave of grunts led by a Brute wielding a gravity hammer.

"Scar, the brute!" Chase shouted as he rushed into battle, firing bursts from the hip.

"I got the bastard!" Scar raised his sniper rifle and fired once, twice, and then ejected the empty clip.

One round slammed into the Brute's helmet, sending it flying off. The next one slammed into its chest armour, knocking it back. The three marines fired on it at once along with Chase. Scar put the final round right into the Brute's skull, blowing the head wide open. The grunts were simple to handle, but one marine was hit by a wave of shards from a Needler and his chest was ripped open in the explosion.

"Damn! This is Sierra, we need support over at the Deployment Elevator." One marine said into her radio.

"We acknowledge Sierra Fire Team Tango is on route." The voice of one of the operators on the bridge replied.

"We'll stay here and secure the area, they need you guys up in the vehicle bay, it's right above us." One marine said.

"Alright, send us up and we'll clear the area." Chase replied as he and Scar stepped onto the elevator.

One marine hit the control panel, and the hatch above the elevator began to rise, letting the sound of gun fire and plasma fire fill the silence. The two Spartans came up into the vehicle bay, which held three Scorpion tanks, six Warthogs, a dozen Mongoose, and four Falcons that hang overhead. Marines clad in ODST armour were using the vehicles as cover while a squadron of Brutes began to advance across the vehicle bay, assisted by twice as many Grunts and two fire teams of Jackal snipers.

Scar made short work of two Snipers, putting one shot through each of them before crouching as his shields flashed from plasma fire. Chase tossed two grenades, which ended up detonating a Mongoose and denting a Scorpion, but also took out two Brutes and three Grunts. The ODST Specialists began to organize and lay down alternating patterns of fire to push the covenant back.

"Scar, cloak and dagger." Chase commanded.

"Got it, take this!" Scar said as he set his rifle down next to Chase along with two clips of his ammo. "Give me a pistol."

Chase handed his side arm to the marksman, who seemingly vanished into the maze of vehicles. Chase made use of the sniper rifle to blow a Brute's helmet open and simultaneously hit another Brute behind it in the chest plates with his first shot. He fired again, blowing the second Brute off its feet as it tried to manoeuvre between the Scorpion tanks to charge the ODSTs. As it fell, something leaped onto a Brute that was climbing over another Scorpion tank and jammed a bowie knife into it's throat. As the brute toppled down, Scar pulled his knife back out and spun, firing twice and hit two Grunts in the head with each shot.

With the Spartan providing a distraction, the six remaining ODSTs began to advance, firing battle rifles and DMRs. The Grunts began to fall first under the salvos of fire, but only one or Two brutes fell next. These troops were not Spec-Ops like the ones the Spartans encountered in Foxtrot-5, but expendable infantry. The ODST Special Infantry were making short work of their enemy, joined by two regular marines who managed to reach the fire fight. One ODST fell, a trio of spikes in his chest and neck, and another caught a plasma grenade on his DMR and quickly tossed it into the Covenant ranks where it detonated.

The last of the Covenant were wiped out within the next hundred seconds thanks to Scar's cloak and dagger tactics and the advancing marine squadron led by Chase. When the last Brute fell, Chase looked to the seven gathered marines. "Spartan 067 Omega Team, I'm looking for Sergeant Major Buckley."

"He's over in the armoury section." A Corporal said. "Bach, take them to the Sarge, we'll hold this area."

"Got it." An ODST Specialist slid a clip into his DMR. "Follow me sir!"

The marine led them through the vehicle bay to where a pair of ODSTs were guarding a barricade that had two machine guns and the bodies of three Hell Jumpers and several Grunts and Brutes. One ODST nodded and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "Buckley's through here. Be careful, there's heavy fighting going on."

The doors hissed open, and the Spartans rushed through, coming out into a locker room where ODSTs would prepare themselves before an Orbital Drop. Now five ODSTs were trying to hold back an advancing horde of Grunts. One ODST tossed a grenade and shouted a warning for her comrades before it went off. Four more Grunts down, a billion more to go.

Chase handed Scar's rifle back to him in exchange for his pistol and fired the side arm, expending its half filled clip for four grunts with a bullet in their brains. He slid a fresh clip in-one of his last two, he needed more ammo. The assault kept up for three more minutes and burned through most of the ammo the Spartans had remaining. After the last Grunt fell, the ODST Specialist in charge shouted to her team. "Collect ammo! I don't want anybody running short until this is over!"

Chase gathered ammo for his pistol and his battle rifle. Scar didn't find any ammo for his Rifle, so he made due with grabbing a shotgun and a bandoleer of about thirty shells. Sliding shells into the weapon, he followed Chase up to the leading ODST. "Where's Sergeant Major Buckley?"

"He's through that door, with what's left of our platoon." The Specialist replied, pointing to the door her squad had been defending from the grunts.

Stepping through, the Spartans found themselves in a narrow corridor. At their end of it was the armoured hatch that led to the small arms locker, and between them and the other end of the hall was a barricade manned by four ODSTs while three more-NCOs judging by the Chevrons were conversing. There were the bodies of over a dozen ODSTs and three times as many covenant in the hall way.

One ODST looked to the Spartans. "Spartans? Shit, Navy Intel's windup toys. Ah well, take what you get." Sergeant Major Buckley took off his helmet, revealing a ginger haired man. "I'm in charge here, what can I do for you Spartans?"

"We were sent to help you secure the armoury until this ship is back at full combat capabilities." Chase began before the ship shook and tilted, knocking some of the marines off balance.

Alarms wailed.

"All hands brace yourselves, we have engaged the Covenant corvette." Lieutenant Commander Archer said over the intercom.

"Damn it, Prince and Smithy better have that gun back up." Chase whispered.

Xxx

Prince and Smithy tossed a single grenade each into the room beyond. They were just smoke grenades to cover their entrance. Rushing in, they fired on the Brutes inside the Weapon's Control. They led a full squadron of thirteen marines behind them, having gathered them from individual fire fights along the way. The marines rushed the Brutes, cutting them down one by one and losing only four of their number before only the Brute Chieftain remained.

He was bigger than any Elite or Brute Prince had ever seen up to this point, with bulky armour and a massive gravity hammer. He turned away from the weapons control console and faced the gathered humans and growled. "Demons!"

"Does that name ever get old?" Prince asked.

The Brute leaped forward. The Marines sprayed him with bullets, but they pinged off his power armour as he slammed his gravity hammer down, reducing one woman to a bloody mess before she could so much as scream. Next he sent two marines into the wall, crushing them against it with his hammer. By now the other six marines backed off, firing on full automatic with assault rifles.

The Chieftain raised his hammer again, but Smithy rushed up and dropped her shotgun, grasping the massive hammer and wrestling with the Brute for it.

"Hold fire!" Prince shouted, sliding a fresh clip into his DMR.

The marines did so and reloaded their rifles as Smithy and the Brute struggled for control of the weapon. Smithy groaned under the strain of trying to relieve the Brute of its Gravity Hammer, and was slowly losing the battle.

And she soon did lose it. She lost her grip on the hammer, and for her troubles was hit in the chest with it and sent flying across the room and slammed into a wall. She hit the floor without a sound.

"Smithy!" Prince knew the Chieftain would slaughter them all unless he was stopped. He took the plasma sword he stole from the Spec-Ops Elites and charged, activating it in mid swing. The Brute and Prince began to dodge and swing their respective weapons, neither gaining nor losing ground. Prince kicked the Brute in the helmet with his right foot and tried to decapitate it next, but the Brute lurched back and struck him in the gut with the butt of its massive hammer-which had a handle so long it was more of a staff.

Prince rolled to the side to avoid being crushed by the hammer, and jammed his plasma sword into the Chieftain's side, going right through the armour. The Brute roared in pain and released its hammer, trying to swat him away. He left the sword where it was and climbed on top of the Brute. He gripped its helmet, trying to wrench it off.

The six marines rushed in and tried to help hold the Brute down, but one by one were sent flying back like rag dolls. Once only Prince was left, the Spartan changed his strategy upon realizing the helmet was too secured to the rest of the armour. Instead he grabbed his last two plasma grenades and stuck them onto the sides of the Brute's helmets a moment before the Brute gripped his leg and swung him off of its back and into a wall. It chuckled, standing up to its full height before it realized something was not right.

A moment later everything above its heart vanished in an explosion of plasma.

The marines, shaken and bruised got to their feet. One looked to Smithy. "Shit!"

Prince rushed over to her and took off her helmet. "Smithy! Smithy come on now!"

She groaned and opened one swollen eye. She sighed. "Ow...that's the last time I play heroine for you ass holes."

Prince smirked. "Same smart ass as ever." He looked to the marines. "Set up a perimeter, see if anybody else managed to survive that thing's little fit, and make sure my buddy here doesn't die."

He left the marines to do their job and rushed to the command console. He began to type in several commands before the ship shook.

"All hands brace yourselves, we have engaged the Covenant Corvette." Archer said over the intercom, and a moment later spoke to Nathan Creed over his radio. "Sergeant, where is my damn gun?"

"It's online, transferring control to you now!" Creed replied.

"We've got it! Set firing solution!" Archer yelled.

Xxx

Five of the remaining seven Longswords had taken up position around the limping Frigate while Delta 66 and Delta 89 hovered over it. The last two Longswords were charging the Corvette, trying to buy the Legion time. They fired several missiles and broke off, but the projectiles detonated on the ship's shields.

"Sir, this is not looking good!" Twist yelled. "The Corvette is right on top of us!"

Suddenly the Legion's main gun spat out a single MAC round. The projectile struck the corvette's shields and knocked it off its axis.

"Everybody keep that thing busy! Give the Legion time for a second shot!" The commanding officer of the remaining Longswords shouted before all seven of the fighters formed up and began to fire their missiles at the frigate. One Longsword disintegrated as it was struck by AA turrets, but the rest kept up the attack.

"Charging MAC, acquiring firing solution for salvo 2." Archer said.

"Legion be advised the enemy Corvette is charging its main cannon!" Twist shouted.

"Evasive, now!" But the plasma blast tore through a good section of hull. Considering how most fights went for UNSC ships-especially in the atmosphere the Legion was lucky it wasn't dead already.

"We have a massive amount of damage to the lower decks!" An officer reported to Archer.

"Is the MAC still operational?" She asked in response.

"Aye ma'am!"

"Fire!" Archer shouted.

A Second MAC round slammed into the corvette's shields, which flashed and died.

"The enemy shields are down, fire Archer missiles!" Archer commanded. "Longswords, go for the main gun on that thing!"

"I have three missiles left!" One pilot reported.

"I have a quarter load!" A second one added.

"Locking on!" One Longsword fired three missiles as it passed the corvette.

Every Longsword fired their last missiles at the corvette. Most were shot down by AA fire, but at least five or six struck the main gun and tore it to pieces.

"Enemy main gun is down!" Twist cheered before a swarm of Archer missiles shot out of the frigate.

Out of the ninety missiles fired, barely fifty struck the corvette, but this was enough to leave it limping.

"Alright! Keep it up, we've got it!" Archer said.

"Delta 89, let's slow her down so the Commander can finish her off." Twist said before both Falcons advanced on the Frigate. They expertly dodged AA fire, weaving back and forth, up and down, firing heavy ammunition into the hull. They even struck several of the turrets, making it easier for the Longswords to dig in with their own autocannons.

"All fighters pull off, firing third salvo!" Archer shouted.

"Clear away!" Twist barked, veering off alongside the remaining fighters and Delta 89.

"FIRE!"

The third round ripped the corvette in half as it tried to escape into orbit. The two pieces fell towards the countryside below. Pilots, marines, and crewmen cheered as the enemy ship struck the land below.

"Score one for Stronghold!" Twist cheered.

Xxx

**Stronghold Orbit**

**Defence Sector 13 (UNSC Orbital MAC guns 11 and 16 positioned over New Haven and surrounding population centers)**

"Sir, the _Talon_ and it's escorts have just entered the defence zone." An ensign reported. "Also the _Legionnaire _has reported a successful pick up of Spartan Omega team and the destruction of the enemy Corvette."

"How the hell did the Covenant slip a small army onto my planet?" Norris asked stiffly.

"Sir, I just finished doing a sweep of our communication channels, and our Orbital gun over Visión del Cielo in sector 4 has not responded to any attempted hails."

"Contact Omega Team and any UNSC forces within range of Sector 4 and get them over there." Norris said. "Cielo...that's a small farming region, barely half a million people, why attack there?"

"Well sir..._it_ is there." The Station's XO, Captain Rain suggested.

"I see...contact ONI, tell them to try contacting the dig site." Norris commanded.

"Aye sir."

Xxx

**Seraph Alpha, in high orbit over Stronghold**

**Stealth Recon Mission**

"Ma'am, the communication channels are saying a UNSC frigate has successfully eliminated a Covenant Corvette several miles over the surface." A Salarian Operator reported. "Mentions of an Omega Team being picked up also. The Frigate is inbound for Defence Sector 5 for repair and deployment of Spartan Omega Team to Sector four."

"Move us to Sector Four and make sure I get a good look at everything there." Curana said. "Try to find information on this Spartan Team."

"Yes ma'am." Curana turned and returned to where she had stood next to Maevor ,watching the planet below.

"How many are coming?" She asked after a few moments.

"Precisely the amount you predicted, Lania." Maevor said. "And there are UNSC battle groups in route as well. But not enough, if I were them I'd think of evacuating this planet by now."

"I don't think they'll let it go so easily." Curana shook her head. "If I learned enough about them from my last visit...they are very stubborn and dedicated fighters."

"And they're being wiped out." Maevor sighed. "So much potential, and so many innocents destroyed in a crusade."

"That's why we're here, to try to get our leaders to step in." Curana smiled. "You never know, maybe the humans will hold Stronghold without our help. They're the one with powerful FTL drives, they're the ones with powerful magnetic cannons. I doubt our shields would hold against one of the shots from their larger capital ships. The Covenant however...they use energy based weaponry. A long time ago that would have wiped out our entire fleet, now I'd say we could probably go toe to toe with them if they get rough with us."

"Until that day comes, let us continue to watch." Maevor said.

Nodding, Curana turned to where an image of the Frigate _Legionnaire_ appeared. The Frigate was damaged, barely able to sustain itself, but it would reach safety without delay.

Next, an image of these 'Spartans' appeared. It showed them in various types of armour. For the most part they wore dark green armour, but some wore custom decorated armour. These were from public news nets.

**SPARTANS WIPE OUT COVENANT ARMY ON CHI ALPHA III**

**SPARTANS NEVER DIE**

**SPARTANS RESCUE COLONIAL SHIP **_**CELESTE**_

**SPARTANS, HEROES OF HUMANITY**

"Ma'am, I got a few files from their data base and pulled out before they could detect me. You'll want to see this." The Salarian Operator said.

She walked over to the Salarian, who opened the first file.

**PROJECT ORION**

It opened up into several different files.

**SPARTAN I GENERATION, NAVSPECWEP**

**SPARTAN II GENERATION, NAVSPECWEP**

**SPARTAN III GENERATION, NAVSPECWEP**

**SPARTAN II OMEGA, ONI COMM**

She started reading, and grew all the more horrified with each file.

Part of her questioned why she was saving humanity, but then her logical side took over. It had not been the billions of dead people or the billions who were in danger who had done all of this to create these Spartans, it hadn't been the countless innocent beings who did these awful things.

But somebody would have to answer for the abduction, subjugation, and forced drafting of what amounted to over a thousand humans, most of them children.

And she would be the one they would answer to.

Xxx

End of chapter


	4. Chapter 4

Mass Effect Wars

To all reviewers, if you find my legal possession of the use of the OCs Talo'Serath, Maevor Sarius, Lania Curana, and Nathan Creed is in question, feel free to look at the bottom of the epilogue chapter of ME Meets ST and see a message left by Lord Maximus himself naming me the creator of and therefore owner of these characters and am free to use them in my story. And they had been designed originally for a Halo/Mass Effect story, I merely chose to use them for ME Meets ST first since...well quite frankly Lord Maximus suggested I feel free to make and use OCs, so I used them and shelved this story to work on after ME Meets ST. Well Maevor Sarius is an exception, I used him in Mass Effect Origin first, I just felt like giving him a better role in ME Meets ST and in this story.

And also, a few points were made in review number 6 (I won't go back to open the review list every time I need to name someone...not until the end of this O_O). Well...ok, point 1: Advancement of Citadel vs Covenant Technology. Well, its centuries past when the Mass Effect games took place, I'm just implying they've developed some energy weaponry, like...perhaps against the Geth or something else, I don't know or care, but it was a very good point.

Next: The size of the human-covenant war. Now I know the Halo Rings are in various parts of the galaxy, meaning it would not be restricted to the Local Cluster alone, but the second Halo hasn't been found yet so I'm...pretending the war hasn't gone that far yet. And for human and covenant expansion...there's not much besides the Local Cluster in the area of the galaxy I picture this taking place in so...I could imply that it also extends to unnamed regions between the clusters.

Next: The Migrant Fleet Incident concerning the Live Ship...four words: Seven hundred years old. I'll go into details later.

And also I noticed a few errors I made myself.

Well, no story begins perfectly, let's just hope I avoid more mistakes like that.

Chapter Four

**UNSC Pelican Drop ship Charlie 433, on route to Defence Sector 4**

**Low orbit over Stronghold**

Omega Team was gathered in the back of Charlie 433 while Twist was up in the cockpit with the co pilot. Chase had exchanged his battle rifle for an MA5B assault rifle variant. This variant had an under slung MA53 shotgun attached to it which could hold four shells.

Prince had taken an MA2B, a cut down version of the full assault rifle which gave him more room. His DMR remained on his back, his pistol on his right thigh, and the plasma sword he had taken was on his left thigh.

Smithy had to pass several medical personnel who kept worrying over her-nobody wanted to lose a Spartan during an invasion, but now she was on her feet and was loading her shotgun. She had two SMGs strapped to her legs and the plasma sword she had taken during the fight on the Legion. Her grenade launcher was folded up on her back-the only place she would dare put it, not even a fully defended armoury would satisfy her leaving her launcher behind.

Scar kept his sniper rifle, and had also taken a silenced pistol variant of the military standard issue magnum.

Shaw and three of her ODSTs were with them. The newly promoted Sergeant Reese, Parker, and Thompson were carrying MA5Bs with under slung shotguns like Chase, but Parker had a grenade launcher hanging off his back like Smithy did. Shaw had a regular battle rifle.

"Alright, I can already tell this picture doesn't look right." Twist broke the silence as they entered geosynchronous orbit.

"What is it?" Chase and Shaw moved up to the front.

"UH...there's supposed to be a giant orbital cannon right?" Twist asked. "Along with about a dozen ships? Well..."

The orbital gun was entirely damaged beyond repair. There were bodies of marines and crew still spilling out of it, the hulls of damaged and destroyed fighters and drop ships floating endlessly in the void of space. And worst of all, seven frigates, four destroyers, and the cruiser assigned to guard the station were reduced to molten scrap metal.

"Should we look for survivors?" Twist asked.

Chase shook his head. "We have a job to do, contact General Norris and get SAR teams to this location. For now...get me a look at everything below."

The Seraph Alpha ship was watching the single drop ship as it passed into the wreckage and made a turn towards the surface below.

"Where are they going?" Talo asked. "Should they not search for survivors first?"

"These Spartans are Special Forces, not a rescue team...they put the mission first." Maevor said.

"Ma'am, we have a visual." A Turian operator reported. "There are no human cities below, just an assortment of farms and several military outposts...and eight covenant corvettes accompanying a cruiser class."

"They're attacking civilians." Ataca growled. "It is cowardly to choose a foe that cannot shoot back!"

"Apparently the humans share the same feeling, there is a massive amount of troop movement going on in regions around the invasion force." Talo pointed out sections of a holographic map.

"Keep an eye on that Pelican, I want to see how these Spartans can fare in a fight." Curana said.

Xxx

"General, I'm seeing it with my own two eyes, at least eight or nine covenant ships and they are spilling out an entire army!" Chase said into his radio as the Pelican flew over the now burning countryside.

"I've contacted our infantry forces in the surrounding area, they're mobilizing for an armoured assault through the Horizon Valley to the east, and an air assault to the north west." Norris replied. "Spartans, Hell Jumpers, I'm dropping you all at Outpost Theta, there's a distress beacon there. We'll use that outpost to drop more troopers in from orbit along with Warthogs for an assault against a nearby covenant camp. Hold that base for a while, the Legion needs quite the bandage for that bruising she got but she'll be able to fly and shoot within the hour. Until then we have two Mako corvettes that will ferry down what they have to you."

"I see the base now!" Twist said.

Theta Outpost was built on a small peninsula, and was armed with AA turrets which were firing wildly at a mass of Banshees and Phantom drop ships. Below, several Scorpion tanks and Warthogs were leading marines in a charge against a mass of Covenant.

"General, Theta Outpost is under attack! Tell those corvettes to double time it!" Chase said. "Omega Team, prepare to deploy!"

"Hell Jumpers, ready!" Shaw barked, sliding her helmet on.

The Pelican flew low over the battle field. Marines and covenant were clashing, trying to advance against each other on a long runway used to allow pelicans and albatross transports to land. The marines had set up cement barricades ,but the covenant had portable shield barriers set up to cover their advance.

The Pelican found a clear area behind marine lines and set down. The ODSTs and Spartans leaped out, greeted by dozens of marines with their backs to them, trying to hold back the horde of covenant troops.

"Trooper, where's your CO?" Chase grabbed a Marine Corporal as he ran by.

"The Lieutenant is dead sir; Sergeant Morgan is leading the charge on the other side of the base!" The Corporal replied. "We could use some help here though!"

"Shaw, get your team over to Morgan's position! We'll hold the covenant here-" Chase was cut off when several large plasma bursts hit the barricade, wiping out a dozen men and women in one second.

"Shit, Wraiths!" Prince looked to Smithy as six Wraiths began to advance from the nearby ridge, bombarding the area with plasma. "How many grenades do you have?"

"About enough to take out one of those things!" She replied. "Forget using grenades, find a rocket launcher!"

"Hey, somebody order the heavy artillery?" Suddenly two rocket launchers were dumped out of the back of the Pelican along with several cases of rockets. "Fire away guys!" Twist gave them a salute before the Pelican slowly lifted off.

"Thanks Twist, see if you can put some of those rockets to good use though." Chase said into his radio before he hefted one rocket launcher. "Load me up!" Smithy put two rockets in the launcher while Prince took the other launcher. Scar slid two rockets into place and slammed the launcher shut.

"Alright, we need a nice safe place with a clear shot. Follow me, and keep me and Prince covered! Scar, Smithy, carry some spares with you, we'll need them!" Chase led Omega Team towards the barricade as most of the remaining marines began to fall back towards the compound, planning to use the Air Traffic Control center's thick walls and strong support to remain safe from the Wraiths.

As the four Spartans rushed towards what was left of the forward barricade, another plasma bombardment eliminated most of the few marines that remained to guard it. By the time they were crouched against one of the cement barriers only five or six were left.

"Alright Prince, on three we'll pick a target and fire." Chase hefted the rocket launcher. "One, two, THREE!"

The Spartans aimed over the barrier, each selecting a Wraith. By now the column of mobile artillery vehicles were barely a hundred meters away. Both Spartans locked onto their respective targets and fired both of their rockets.

The four rockets shot across the small distance between the wraiths and the barricade and successfully hit their target. Both vehicles went up in balls of fire.

"Hell yeah, ten points fuckers!" Scar yelled.

"Shut up and reload!" Chase barked before taking cover to avoid the wrath of the last four artillery vehicles.

Xxx

"Oh dear, this isn't good." One Asari crewmember stated, trying to remain calm.

"What is it Lieutenant?" Curana asked.

The Asari was in charge of the Seraph Alpha's cyber warfare and espionage team, and her terminal was set right near the captain's chair where Maevor was sitting. The nervous Asari looked up. "I'm picking up transmissions from a nearby Covenant frigate Spectre Curana, it appears...well it is on course for us, and it is making mention of 'discovering a vermin ship in hiding'."

"I see it, and its charging its forward weapons!" The Tactical Officer reported. "Fifteen Banshee class ships incoming with four Seraph Fighter class right behind them! They're leading one of their gun boats!"

"How many ships can a frigate carry?" Talo asked from where he was assisting an operator in trying to hack the covenant systems.

"The standard covenant frigate is one kilometre in length, carries thirty fighter class, sixty Banshee single craft, and ten gun boats."

"Damn it, launch our fighters and raise our shields!" Maevor yelled. "All hands, battle stations, this is not a drill!"

The Seraph Class could hold a total of six fighters. In this case it was the Nova class fighter, favoured by the Citadel Defence Fleet based off of a series of tests done using the most current fighters that were used in militaries and choosing the one with the best performance ratio. These particular ones were modified with some Covenant plasma cannons for a stronger attack. They also used covenant fighter shields.

Though the mass effect technology had evolved to the point where energy weaponry was no longer a problem, plasma could still provide the covenant fighters an unfair advantage. Now the playing field was even.

All six fighters launched as the wave of Banshees approached.

"Lock on point defence interception grid." Maevor commanded. "Gunnery crew fire at will, blow them out of the sky."

The Seraph Alpha's point defence turrets roared to life as the six Nova craft fired on the Banshees. These small craft were not shielded or armoured, so it was simple to destroy them.

"Nova Wing here, we're holding them so far but I suggest you find us an alternative to this Seraph!" The lead pilot of the Nova Wing called.

"Just give us a few minutes to charge our FTL coils Nova Leader." Maevor replied. "Engineering this is Sarius, get us the hell out of here!"

"We're working on it sir!" Chief Engineer Sarat said through the radio. "We'll be ready in three minutes!"

"Alright, Nova Wing continue to hold up a perimeter. Focus on the Seraph Fighters and the gun boat, we can handle the Banshees." Maevor commanded.

"Yes sir, focusing on heavy craft!" The Nova fighters left the seven remaining Banshees and fired on the Seraphs and Phantom.

"Sir, Covenant Frigate is in range!" The Gunnery Commander shouted.

"Lock our forward cannons on it and fire!" Maevor replied.

"Acquiring firing solution...locked!" The Salarian Gunnery Commander said. "Firing forward MAC cannons!"

The Seraph fired both of its MAC guns. The MAC guns were more powerful than the standard Frigate or Destroyer size UNSC variant. They had a greater power source and improved targeting. This allowed both shots to slam into the Frigate's shields. The shields held up for several moment and then faded as the remnants of one MAC round tore into the hull.

"Minor damage to enemy frigate, reloading and acquiring a firing solution."

"Incoming heavy plasma!"

"It's only anti ship batteries, not the main guns, our shields should-" The ship shuddered as multiple plasma shots struck the shields. "Shields down to 92 percent! 83 percent! 75 percent!"

"We'll only last under a minute at this rate." Talo said grimly.

"Are the MAC cannons loaded?" Maevor asked.

"Aye sir!"

"Acquire target and fire!"

"Target locked, firing forward MACs!"

The Seraph fired again. The rounds tore through the Covenant frigate's hull. Sadly the small size of the rounds compared to the frigate did not destroy the ship, but left it damaged.

"Sir, enemy ship has sustained multiple hull breaches and is retreating." Talo sighed in relief. "Shields at 61 percent and recharging- wait, keelah-!" The ship shuddered, and a console exploded.

"What was that?" Maevor shouted.

"A second Covenant ship! Super Carrier class! That was it's anti ship batteries! It's locking onto us!" Talo shouted.

"Maevor we need to get out of here!" Curana shouted as she dragged a burned crew member away from the destroyed console.

"Engineering ,is the FTL ready?" Maevor shouted.

"Negative sir, FTL is out!" Sarat replied.

"That shot took out our shields!" Talo shouted.

Maevor looked towards the one safe place. "Take us closer to Stronghold, lure the enemy ship into range of the MAC platforms in Sector Five."

The Seraph roared away with the Super Carrier in pursuit. As the ships left, two Carrier class vessels began their descent into the atmosphere to continue the invasion.

"ETA to firing range of human defence platforms is 143 seconds."

"Incoming plasma fire, evading!" The small stealth ship managed to successfully dodge several plasma shots from the Super Carrier.

"Enemy ship is charging its main cannons sir!"

Xxx

Prince was crouched among the ruined trees and scorched rocks surrounding Theta Outpost. Two of the Wraiths were still beating the human defences back. He had managed to slip around the conflict, and now had a plan.

"This is Omega One, I'll take care of those Wraiths, but make sure the Infantry don't bother me." He said into his radio.

The rest of Omega Team and the platoon's worth of marines were backed up to the Air Traffic Control Center by now. Crouched behind a warthog-which had Smithy manning the turret, Chase shouted into his radio. "We copy Omega One, just hurry up, we can't hold this position for long!"

"Got it Omega Leader, on the count of three...three!" Prince leaped from cover and fired several bursts into nearby Grunts and Jackals as he rushed down the slope and onto the cement. He sprinted towards the two mobile artillery, taking several plasma shots from nearby grunts and had to dodge being decapitated by an Elite Zealot. Leaping onto the back of one Wraith, he took out a plasma grenade he had acquired during the fight and jammed his fist down into the machinery, left the active plasma grenade, and leaped off right before the vehicle exploded.

The brute manning the turret of the second Wraith fired into him as he rushed the last of the mobile artillery. Prince's shields dropped just before Scar fired his sniper rifle into the Brute's head, scattering its brains all over the place as Prince leaped onto the vehicle and bashed the hatch covering the driver with his fists repeatedly. Finally it gave, and a surprised Brute looked up just in time to see Prince's pistol jammed between its eyes before Prince squeezed the trigger.

Dragging the dead ape like alien out of the seat, he took over and turned the artillery on the covenant. It was easy after hijacking a Wraith seven times over the course of the war to learn how to operate it. He began to fire into the advancing infantry columns. Every shot he took destroyed half a dozen grunts, or an elite with several underlings, or if he was lucky one of the Covenant Ghosts that had moved to assist the attack.

"That's done it, they're falling back!" The humans advanced, supported by their single Warthog as Smithy tore up multiple enemies with the machine gun.

The remnants of the several hundred covenant soldiers retreated over the low hills and vanished from sight.

The humans did not cheer, they knew their foes would return in greater numbers next time around.

"Thanks for the save Spartans!" A marine shouted from the Warthog. "We'll hold it from here!"

"Theta Command this is Corporal Gale at the Air Field blockade, we need support, I'm down to forty percent man power." The highest ranking marine left said into her radio. "Alright, standing by."

She looked to Chase. "They're deploying what's left of our LRVs now that the covenant air craft are gone. Things are going pretty good over at the main gate, Sergeant Morgan's reporting an enemy retreat."

"Damn straight I am Corporal." A man said over the radio. "This is Sergeant Morgan, glad to have you all visiting our humble abode Spartans. I just mopped up what's left of the covvies on my end thanks to Lieutenant Shaw. I think we have just about everything ready for the fleet to start ferrying some help down-"

"Oh shit, this is Charlie 433 to Theta Outpost, you have a covenant ship incoming!" Twist shouted. "It's a Carrier! Man that thing is huge!"

The human defenders looked up as a massive shape began to advance out of the clouds.

"Oh fuck me." Smithy whispered.

The Carrier was bigger than any UNSC flag ship except for the Super Carrier class, and it was carrying thousands of Covenant soldiers.

"This is Theta Command, all units stand by! We have assistance inbound!"

"What the hell can help us against that?" Scar shouted.

"Incoming Phantoms! Everybody pull back into the compound!" Chase shouted.

"Negative, hold position Spartans!"

"Sir, with respect fuck that, we can't hold this position with what we have!"

"Spartan if you pull a single man back I swear to god I will make sure you never see the light of day ever a-" The commanding officer of Theta Outpost was silenced forever when the plasma bombardments began. The first structure hit was the command outpost.

"DAMN! Compound is compromised, all units load up and get the hell out of here!" Chase shouted. "Shaw we need transport!"

"There are two Falcons and a few Pelicans left in Hangar E and some other craft in hangar F, we'll meet you there with some survivors!" Shaw replied.

"I copy! Omega Team, Hangar E now! MOVE IT! Everybody with us, Theta is compromised, get to the Pelicans!" The Spartans and marines left their positions and began to rush towards the hangars.

By the time the thirty some crowd arrived at the Hangars, they were met with Lieutenant Shaw, her fire team-minus Parker, who had died defending the other defence front and two dozen or so marines and pilots.

"Alright ,there are plenty of Pelicans if we squeeze in a bit. Pilots and crew first!" Shaw shouted as they began to herd the last of the survivors into the base.

"Where's the rest of Morgan's company? Where's Morgan?" Chase shouted.

"The Sarge got hit on the way here!" A PFC replied. "Everybody else is taking ground vehicles out!"

"Alright, just keep loading these drop ships up!" Chase shouted. "Prince, get back in here!"

"That might be a problem sir!" Prince was backing the Wraith up as he fired at an advancing battalion of Covenant. "We have tons of enemies on our six!"

"Sergeant, that's an order, get the fuck inside!" Chase shouted over the radio.

"Yes si...trying to...can't..." The radio kept losing contact with Prince. "Oh shi...SHIT!" There was an explosion outside that rocked the entire base.

"PRINCE!" Smithy rushed for the doors.

"No it's too late!" Scar grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the Falcons.

"We don't leave anyone!" She broke free, but Chase stopped her again.

"Sergeant! I am ordering you to get on that Falcon!" He shouted in her face.

Smithy hesitated, not wishing to leave her XO and partner behind. But she nodded, accepting his orders. "Yes sir!"

The wind outside was howling so loud that even with the panicked shouts of the marines being muted by the closed hatches of the Pelicans the Spartans needed to shout.

"This is Twist, they don't have any AA power so you'd better get moving!" Twist shouted.

Smithy and a marine were on the turrets of one Falcon while Scar was piloting it. He also took three more marines as passengers. Chase drove the other Falcon and had Shaw, her two ODSTs, and two more marine on board. The rest of the Pelicans were filled with as much as they could take, even dumping supplies and weapons to carry the marine survivors.

"Alright, take off! Go! Go! Go!" Chase shouted as the two Falcons hummed to life and moved out of the Hangar. They moved over the Air field and rained down machine gun fire on the swarm of Covenant soldiers.

"Man, look at them all!" Shaw shouted from Chase's Falcon as she fired into the crowd. "This doesn't make sense, why put this much towards one small outpost?"

"Think later, shoot now!" Scar replied as plasma fire from small arms pelted the underside of the Falcons, doing little damage.

"We're away! Thanks Spartans!" The pilot of one Pelican said as three drop ships pulled out of the hangar and flew away.

"Keep it up, we need to keep them away from the hangars!" Chase shouted before the Phantoms deploying the army began to rise as one and advance on the base. There were dozens of them, and they were firing on the Pelicans. One was hit and spun out of control, crashing into a nearby building.

Over the course of the one sided fight, all but two Pelicans got away. The second one was destroyed entirely by multiple plasma shots from the Phantoms.

"Last one is away, let's get out of here!" Chase said.

"But what about Prince? He could be alive!" Smithy searched for the wreckage of the Wraith Prince had been manning, but the wind had kicked up a miniature sand storm during the entire fight, blocking out the ground below.

"Leave it Smithy ,we need to get out of here!" Scar responded, turning away from the advancing Phantoms and followed Chase away from the fight. "He's dead, I'm sorry but that's all there is to it!"

"Spartans never die Scar." Smithy shook her head, looking to where they had abandoned their comrade. "Spartans never die."

Xxx

They were hit right before they got into range of the UNSC platform. It tore a hole through the Seraph, and the atmosphere began to exit the craft, bringing many crew with it.

Curana managed to get her helmet on, but along the way to the escape pods something hit her head, and Maevor and Talo had to drag her to the escape pods by her arms. When they arrived, they set her in one where Ataca, Doro, and Genia were waiting. They set Curana inside and leaped in, buckling her in before they triggered the pod. The hatch shut, and the pod shot away from the Seraph along with several more pods.

"Did you do it?" Talo asked Maevor.

"I did." Maevor held up three talons, then retracted one, the next, and curled the final one in-

The Seraph went up like light, entirely vanishing. The explosion reached the Super Carrier, which had been looming right over the small craft and was launching boarding craft before the Seraph self destructed. The power of the Mass Effect Core detonating was powerful enough to go through the shields and make holes in the hull, but the Super Carrier was far from destroyed.

As the life pods fell towards the surface, they managed to watch as a UNSC battle group consisting of a cruiser, three Destroyers, and four frigates appeared and fired their Archer missiles. The point defence grid took down many, but over two hundred still detonated against the unshielded hull.

After the Cruiser fired it's MAC, it was all over.

"Well, looks like the humans did us a favour." Ataca commented dryly. "At least nobody will know we were here."

"Did our Novas make it?" Maevor asked.

"No, I'm afraid they were overpowered when the Super Carrier launched its fighters." Talo shook his head. "We need to find a way to contact the Citadel Council."

"The fleet will arrive in several days if we don't report in." Maevor replied. "We just need to do one thing."

"Survive." Curana whispered.

Xxx

End of chapter


	5. Chapter 5

Mass Effect Wars

To Eipok (Ok I took the time to look at the reviews and get a name memorized this time): Thanks for the information. I haven't exactly read First Strike, friend told me about it, I asked him how big it might be compared to the Citadel, he was kinda busy with math homework so he just shrugged and said 'Not nearly as big, I know that much.' So I kinda assumed since the Citadel holds over ten million and could possibly hold several times as much considering the amount of Keepers there must be maintaining it that the Unyielding Hero Pant- Unyielding Elephant- I mean Unyielding-oh forget it, anyways I thought the Citadel was way way way bigger. -_- Bottom line...thanks. ^_^

Xxx

Chapter Five

**Stronghold**

**19****th**** hour of Covenant Invasion**

**Current Covenant Presence: 34 000+**

**UNSC Theta Outpost**

**Visión del Cielo Farming Province**

Down on the surface, the covenant controlled Theta Outpost now. They were scouring the inner compound for survivors while their sentries tried to spot any humans in the sand storm their own Carrier had started. One Elite sentry was perched on top of the Air Traffic Control Center, using his helmet's optics to pierce the sand storm. He spotted movement from time to time, but only saw his own comrades. Though it was tempting to put a Brute out of commission, he would not shoot an ally in cold blood, he was better than the vermin who ruled this planet.

A small courier ship was coming down from the Carrier; this obviously meant a Prophet was being brought onto the planet to supervise the search for the relics the fleet had come in search of. The Elite was so focused on the courier ship that he didn't notice the knife until it was buried into his neck up to its hilt. Prince tore the bowie knife out of the Elite's throat and pushed it off of the building to lay with the rest of the dead.

He looked to the survivors of the crashed Pelican who were gathered on the roof behind him, crouched down and gripping their weapons tightly. Three of them were hardened marines who had several years of service; another was a seasoned NCO who did not seem fazed by the recent events visibly. The next two were the pilots from the Pelican, and the final one was a medic who had managed to climb on board with the rest.

"Alright, let's find ourselves a ride and get out of here." He led them down through the abandoned building and out onto the landing strip.

After a few moments of walking, the NCO spoke. "So what are we going to hijack?"

"I spy with my little eye something pretty, shiny, and the perfect getaway vehicle." Prince pointed at a Phantom that was hovering over where it had set down a platoon of troops to help set up a base perimeter. There were only three guards left around the gravity beam. "Anybody have a sniper rifle?"

Upon getting no response, Prince took out his knife. "Time for the old fashioned way then."

The trio consisted of a Jackal and two Grunts. It was simple to sneak up on the Jackal and slit its throat, after that he bashed the first Grunt down with the butt of his rifle and then as the third grunt spotted him and screamed he raised his silenced pistol and put one round into the alien's skull. After that the humans took the gravity lift up and overpowered the single Elite and two Grunts left inside without casualties or anyone noticing from outside until the Phantom lifted away from the air field and flew away under the cover of the storm.

Up in the cockpit, standing behind the two pilots, Nathan Creed took off his helmet. "Alright, take us home."

"Yes sir-wait, see that?" Several objects were falling out of the sky. They were too small to be debris, and the covenant didn't usually abandon ship under any circumstances.

"Escape pods...alright, take us in low. Let's take a look for survivors." Nathan Creed said.

"This is weird, if there's escape pods then where is the debris?" One pilot asked, but nobody answered.

Xxx

The escape pod landed in the middle of a pond. It ended up evaporating most of the water, so there was only a small crater left around the pod.

The homing beacon was active for only a few moments before it was shut down from inside. A single hand forced the hatch open, and Talo'Serath nar Idenna peeked out with his assault rifle ready. He looked back down.

"All clear, let's go before something finds us."

Curana climbed out first. She leaped down and drew her pistol. "It's all clear."

Maevor landed next and moved to the top of the crater, his assault rifle extended. He peered through the scope and looked at the countryside around them. The Covenant bombing runs had left most of it in flames and eliminated most wild life. There were some fire fights here or there between stranded units, only visible from the flashes of gun fire. Ataca joined him and looked through the scope of his sniper rifle.

"This doesn't look good Spectre, there's covenant all over the place and about half as many human squadrons." The Krogan reported. "But it looks like the humans are moving troops and fighters in, this place will be a prime target soon."

"Is everybody alright?" Curana asked as she joined them, switching her pistol for her own sniper rifle.

"My suit's systems are reporting several minor punctures, but luckily the Citadel R&D decided to equip me for this situation." Talo pulled out a small canister and aimed it at his left thigh where several small rips were visible. He sprayed a small foam onto the opening and smoothed it out. He tested his leg out. "It feels awkward and squishy, but it will keep it sealed. It's based off of the Bio Foam material humans use to seal wounds." He repeated this with two more punctures. "In essence it is like Omni Gel being compared to Medi Gel."

Genia and Doro joined the group. The Turian woman looked to her comrades. "What shall we do now?"

"Search for more survivors. One pod landed over there." Maevor pointed to a distant pillar of red smoke. "It's a flare...damn it they'll give themselves away!"

"We need to move, quickly! Bring the spare ammunition with us too!" Maevor said.

"If we find one of the supply pods we could last for a long while." Ataca commented as they slid down the slope.

"We can worry about that later, we need to gather what's left of the crew." Curana replied.

A plasma shot hit the ground in front of her. Maevor pulled her behind a tree as Talo returned fire with his assault rifle while Genia fired her rocket launcher at the source.

At least a dozen covenant troops, a few jackals and a brute leading some grunts were advancing on them. From the other side there were two LRVs charging up the path, the humans manning the machine turrets firing at the covenant while the two Spectres and their squadron remained hidden. As soon as the vehicles roared past, the mix of aliens continued towards the pod crash site.

"This is ridiculous, everybody is shooting at us and they don't even know it!" Ataca growled.

"Just don't think about what will happen if they know they're shooting at us!" Talo advised the Krogan.

Suddenly a Falcon flew overhead, the two gunners raining down grenades on a nearby Covenant formation. A Revenant light mobile artillery vehicle crashed through the brush up ahead before it detonated, compliments of a Scorpion tank.

A fire team of marines moved ahead, and stopped to set up a mortar. One slid the shell in, and the rest set a target and fired. The shell landed nearby, and as the y moved to reload all four of them were crushed by a Spirit drop ship that had lost its engines.

"Damn, this way, circle around!" Maevor yelled to them. "And stay low, do not fire at anything!"

"Easier said than done!" Giena replied, ducking as more bullets and plasma flew overhead.

"Watch out!" Talo shouted as several shapes came down out of the skies...Longsword Bombers!

"Get down!" Curana pulled Doro and Talo down as the six Bombers launched missiles and dropped shells down on a nearby covenant formation barely 30 yards away through the trees.

As the Longswords began to ascend back towards orbit, they were pursued by a pair of Seraph fighters that easily blew two of the bombers out of the sky before the flight vanished into the clouds.

"Get on your feet, we need to keep moving!" Maevor shouted, tugging Genia to her feet and urging her along.

Xxx

**UNSC Heavy 442 **_**Widow**_

**On route to Stronghold**

**21****st**** Hour of Covenant Invasion**

"The Sat-Net has shown that covenant activity is growing in that one particular region of Stronghold." Sebastian stated as he showed MacDaniel a map of the region the Covenant were invading currently. "Over a dozen ships supporting several brigades of infantry and several dozen squadrons of fighters and gun ships. The local militia and High Command have responded and have deployed several frigates to assist with the push into the region. The covenant infantry have been halted for now, contained in a fifty three miles radius of the original landing zone." A red circle formed in the middle of the map with several purple dots at the center, representing covenant ships. "The original plan was to deploy troops into the region through Outpost Theta, but it has recently been taken over by a large amount of Covenant troops and is occupied by three battalions and has one of the two invading Carriers station over it."

"What is the status of the MAC platform in orbit over Cielo?" MacDaniel asked.

"Destroyed along with the battle group assigned to it." Sebastian replied. "There have been attempts by smaller covenant battle groups to breach other areas of Stronghold's orbital defences, but there has only been one successful breach by a single corvette, which was dealt with when it drifted under MAC platform 6's firing range with no friendly casualties."

"High Command back at Earth was really looking forward to getting this Nova back where it could be kept until we needed it." MacDaniel noted. "I'm assuming that mission is scrubbed now?"

"Correct, a Slip Space probe was commissioned to deliver orders straight to Stronghold High Command from the UNSC Headquarters on Earth, they come straight from Lord Hood himself."

"Those things cost more than a small fleet of these frigates, what did Lord Hood have to say?" MacDaniel asked.

"We have orders concerning our package, sir." Sebastian said.

"Show it to me." MacDaniel said.

Sebastian did, and MacDaniel sighed. "I should have listened to my wife and worked as a cop on Earth."

Xxx

**UNSC Frigate 725 **_**Legionnaire**_

**In low orbit over CCZ (Covenant Containment Zone)**

Smithy looked around as marines and crew members rushed back and forth, carrying weapons and equipment. Scar stood next to her, leaning against the wall and sharpening his knife.

"This is bull shit, there's a war going on down there and they have us standing here with our hands up our asses." Smithy complained. "And what about Prince? That kid doesn't die, he never does anything if he thinks he'll die from it."

"Well he did, can we forget about it? The longer we keep whining and hoping Prince just pops up from nowhere, the less well be able to focus on avenging him." Scar said. "Look, just look towards destroying that Carrier, the General has a plan, he'll send us down there soon."

"When will he send us, before or after he issues a global evacuation?" Smithy demanded.

"Actually he's sending us out right now." They looked up as Chase approached them. "Norris wants us to take a Pelican down to Fortress Base. It has a way to deal with those pesky Covenant ships, but it can't do that considering it has a few thousand covvies trying to bust the doors down to mess it all up for us."

"We're going to destroy that Carrier?" Smithy asked.

"And every other covenant vessel near it." Chase nodded. "Fortress Base was used to develop a new Anti Orbital Defence Grid in the event that orbital based MAC platforms became...inconvenient for us to continue using. What with the lack of defences against covenant retaliation and boarding, they decided to consider...what if they could fire MACs from the surface of a planet?"

"I heard of that, Project Olympus." Scar said. "The idea of making a MAC cannon the size of one used on a MAC platform, but under something like a mountain or something like that and pick off Covvie ships before they can glass the planet." He shook his head. "They said that project was scrapped."

"It was after the first one was tested here on Stronghold, it was too bloody expensive to build dozens of these things on colonies. That and the cost benefit ratio in man power and resources would have made it harder for the fleet and our orbital MACs to do any fighting. But luckily this MAC is located with a perfect perch to rid us of our unwelcome guests. Problem is that it takes fifteen minutes to charge each time, but it will be a start, and it might chase some of those ships to where our friends in the MAC stations can earn their pay."

"Let's do it, those bitches killed Prince, they're gonna pay." Scar growled.

"I still say that ass hole is still alive. Hell, he's probably going to fly right up to us on a Phantom to show off." Smithy said as she followed Scar and Chase.

"Until then, we do our job, and he remains MIA until he shows up." Chase said. "Don' get me wrong Smithy, the day Prince bites the big one is the day Scar here changes to using shotguns or actually uses his visor's HUD to aim."

"I take offense to the very idea of that, sniper rifles were meant to have scopes for a reason." Scar said.

"Ah shut up Scar."

Xxx

"Maintain a low profile and move in when I give the signal." Prince O-092 said as he, Staff Sergeant Amos, and the three other marines: Specialists Aalders, Lyon, and MacLeod loaded their weapons. They had stopped at a destroyed UNSC convoy and pillaged it for weapons and ammo. "Remember, if somebody finds you out, you have the main guns and those concussion turrets on the side, but if you are discovered then come right for us and evac us immediately."

"Aye sir." The Pilot nodded. "Don't worry, I'm not in the mood for being pulled over by an unfriendly hitch hiking Hunter."

"I'm counting on that." Prince nodded, hefting the sniper rifle he had chosen. He had a regular DMR variant on his back and his silenced pistol strapped to his right thigh. He had a bandoleer of percussion grenades to supply Specialist Lyon, who had the grenade launcher, and two fragmentation grenades, and two plasma grenades from the on board armoury. Every marine had human and covenant weaponry.

"Alright, we're approaching the Drop Point." The Pilot replied.

Prince went on back to his fire team. "Alright, here's where we get off. It'll be a brief SAR, we'll only be gone a total limit of one hour, if we haven't located anybody by then we bug out. If we find somebody and get directions to somebody else, we evac them and move on. And don't worry, if you really feel like going home I doubt we'll find a lot of people."

"Here we are sir. This is the closest crash point, looks pretty quiet." The Pilot activated the grav lift.

"I'll go first." Nathan Creed leaped down and slowly floated down towards the ground.

He looked to the pod, and stopped in mid step.

Something was definitely not right here.

Xxx

"Wait!" Curana raised one fist to stop her team. "Phantom!"

"Damn, it's right over the crash site." Maevor whispered.

The Phantom was just visible over the tree line, hovering in place with its gravity beam activated.

"I have plenty of ammunition if we need to take it out." Genia hefted her rocket launcher.

"Let's move quietly, maybe if they notice we aren't human we can get the drop on them." Maevor said.

"Isn't your first move in First Contact to negotiate?" Talo asked. "Not that I'm complaining but it is odd to hear a Spectre say that."

"I don't particularly like the Covenant, and I'd sooner trust the desperately defending humans." Maevor replied. "But then again I doubt they'd be too glad to see aliens either, especially if we have to eventually tell them we were spying on them while they were being invaded."

"We can deal with how we get out of the cross fire later, just get into position to take that thing out if it fires on the pod!" Curana shouted. "Maevor, take Talo and Ataca on the left flank! Genia, Doro, with me on the right flank!"

The team split up and began to surround the crash site as something dropped out of the Phantom. It was bigger than a Turian and wore dark brown armour with a visor covering its face. It carried a long rifle that Curana recognized.

"Wait, stand down!" She whispered through the radio. "It's a Spartan!"

"A what?" Doro asked.

"I looked them up," Talo whispered. "Super soldiers. The project leads back at least six decades and has produced three different generations of them. This is most likely a third generation Spartan, more common than the second generation, most of which were destroyed at the UNSC world known as Reach."

"Should we approach?" Genia asked.

"Negative, wait for him to make the first move." Maevor replied. "If he shoots, gun him down."

The Spartan started towards the pod. He paused, lowering his rifle and setting the huge sniper rifle on the ground. He called out. "This is Spartan 092, respond!"

Definitely male, young even. Of course, that was when they took Spartans for the second and third generations of super soldiers. They took little children and turned them into big strong men and women to fight their battles for them. Curana's eyes narrowed in disgust, but her anger vanished as she imagined how life must have been for the Spartan growing up.

"Hello?" He started towards the pod, but stopped. He was examining the pod, realizing it was not a human life pod. He pulled out a pistol and chambered a round. He looked up towards the Phantom, and four more figures came down, all of them wearing marine fatigues and armour and carrying assault rifles.

"UH...hey el-tee, that doesn't look like a Bumble Bee." One marine said. (if anyone forgot, the Spartan Omegas were given commissioned officer ranks)

"Spread out and set up a perimeter." Another marine, older than the rest ordered. "Lyon, with me and keep that launcher loaded, just in case."

The older marine, the younger marine named Lyon, and Spartan 092 approached the pod.

"Whoever is in there, come out now!" The older marine shouted. "This is your only warning! Otherwise we're coming in!"

Every member of the crew had translators equipped for the basic human languages. They also could translate the ones common to Stronghold-as the Seraph Alpha was specifically investigating that one planet. The occupants of the pod would easily understand the demands of the marine.

After several moments, the hatch slowly hissed open.

"Maevor!" Curana whispered into her radio.

"Wait..." Maevor replied.

"Come out nice and slow!" The Spartan called. "Lyon, don't get trigger happy, you fire when I say you do, got it?"

"Got it." Lyon nodded.

Slowly, an Asari crew member climbed out of the pod. Lyon slightly lowered his grenade launcher. "Holy shit..."

Frightened, the Asari slowly climbed down. "Please don't shoot!" She sounded on the verge of tears.

A Turian soldier climbed out next. He kept his weapons holstered and his hands in sight.

"Elite!" Lyon aimed at the Turian, but as he squeezed the trigger the Spartan forced the launcher up and the grenade exploded in the air near the Phantom.

Maevor stood up. "Drop your weapons!"

As one, the team advanced in on the humans, weapons raised. The Spartan aimed his DMR in one hand at Maevor and his pistol in the other at Ataca while the marines focused on each of the aliens.

"Holy shit, never seen anything like this!" One marine said.

"I said drop your weapons!" Maevor barked.

"Lieutenant, lock the main gun, wait for my command to fire." The Spartan said, speaking into his radio.

The main gun locked right into the pod.

"Stand down, now." The Spartan said, staring at Maevor.

The rest of the aliens in the pod climbed out.

"Uh...sir?" One marine spoke up.

"Now now Aalders." The NCO growled.

"Look!" Aalders pointed before a missile slammed into the side of the Phantom. It began to spin out of control and crashed nearby. A Pelican floated overhead.

"SHIT! DON'T FIRE! FRIENDLIES! FRIENDLY!" The Spartan shouted.

The Pilot must have gotten the message, and turned his chin gun up and away before a Banshee tried to take a shot at him. Moving away, he pursued it.

"Hey wait! Oh great he ditched us!" Lyon shouted.

"The crew might still be alive; we need to get to them!" The NCO shouted.

"Don't move!" The Turian soldier from the escape pod raised his assault rifle.

It remained as a Mexican stand off as the world began to fall apart around the two groups.

"Look, I don't know what you are, and I don't have the time or interest to ask. I have men in that Phantom who could be seriously injured." The Spartan said sternly. "Either get out of my way or feel free to get a bullet between your eyes."

"What do we do Maevor?" Talo asked, remaining calm.

"I don't know, we never planned for this." Maevor said.

Curana took that moment to take charge. "Stand down! Everyone lower your weapons!"

"Curana, that isn't a good idea!" Maevor snapped.

"If we do it your way we'll get killed faster, we needed to speak to the humans eventually." Curana lowered her rifle and slowly walked over to the Spartan.

She looked up at him, and holstered her rifle, retracting it into a small rectangle shape and hanging it on her back. "You need a way out of here; we need a way out of here. You don't have much of a reason to trust us but I can't sit here and tell you what we are or why we're here because if the Covenant find me talking with you, they'll shoot me and my comrades. Now how about we all put the guns down and go find your people together?"

"Never heard of a covvie trying to make nice with us." Specialist Lyon stated.

"We are not of the covenant, didn't you hear what I said?" Curana glared at him.

"Whoa!" Lyon backed off as Curana began to glow.

The Spartan stood between her and the marine, examining her. No doubt his advanced armour was examining her biotic energy flow.

"Give me a reason to trust you, and I'll consider it." The Spartan said.

"How about you take off that helmet so I don't feel like I'm talking to a fucking robot?" Curana demanded.

"Lady, you're digging your grave or whatever you aliens bury yourselves in, this guy can rip you in half!" Specialist MacLeod exclaimed.

"I have no doubt of his capabilities; he's been trained to do that if anyone threatens him if I'm correct." Curana said. "Tell me, do you even remember that you have a heart beat under that armour? Or do you just wait until someone else tells you to roll over like a varren?"

Xxx

Nathan Creed did not know what a Varren was, and he didn't want to know, but this alien would usually have a skull full of lead if she were an Elite or a Jackal. Instead, Nathan slowly holstered his hand gun and lowered his DMR. Reaching up with one hand, he unlatched his helmet and slowly lifted it off of his head.

"Never heard of a Varren before, but I'm pretty damn sure you just insulted me." He said, staring down at her with cold eyes.

"Ah, so you really aren't a robot." The alien said. "I'll tell you what then, Spartan 092, if you agree to not start a fire fight here and now, I'll agree not to shoot you in the back. I don't want to die here, and none of my people want to die either, and I'd rather trust myself with you instead of the Covenant considering they're rather too extreme for my tastes." She held out a hand, that odd blue fading from her body, but the scanner still showed that she had a large amount of static energy on her. "Truce?"

"How can I make a truce with an alien race that might just be as bad as the covenant?" Nathan asked.

"You don't want a friendly First Contact situation then? You'd rather I shoot you?" The alien asked. For a woman her size-at least he was assuming she was a woman she had spunk or balls to march up to a Spartan and say these things.

Deciding he had no further time to waste, Nathan Creed took her hand...and tugged her out of the way just in time to save her from a fuel rod projectile that slammed into the ground where she had been. Shielding her with his armour and shields, Nathan looked up at the Banshee that had fired it. "Banshee incoming, get down!" He pulled on his helmet and forced Curana into a small crater next to them as the humans and aliens scattered.

As Curana drew her pistol, she winked at Nathan. "By the way, the name's Curana, Spectre Lania Curana, don't forget it Spartan."

"Let's get the record straight then, Spectre, my name isn't Spartan, it's Creed." Nathan growled, already thoroughly annoyed with this alien, Curana. "_Nathan_ Creed, now stay out of my way!"

As group of Grunts with fuel rod guns entered the clearing, but Nathan Creed gunned the trio down with one shot to each of their skulls. He scooped up a fuel rod gun, putting aside his DMR and fired at the Banshee as it made a pass. A successful hit, and the fighter craft went down, exploding as it hit the ground.

An Elite appeared behind him, its plasma sword bursting to life. Creed dropped the fuel rod gun and spun, just barely twisting away from the blade. He slammed his right elbow into the Elite's jaw and then ducked as it swung its blade again. He took out his knife and leaped onto the Elite, jamming his knife down into its throat as he brought it toppling down onto the ground.

Jerking his knife out and sheathing it, he hefted his DMR and looked up in time to see Curana raise her pistol and fire. He ducked...and looked over his shoulder to see a Jackal with a beam rifle fall, its head blown open.

"You're welcome, Nathan." Curana said with a sly grin before that blue glow returned and she swung her hand.

A Brute with a Spiker in hand was suddenly lifted into the air where it flailed in an invisible grip, surrounded by a barely visible shimmer of energy similar to Curana's. She suddenly swung her hand down, and the Brute slammed into the ground, and didn't get back up. Trying to get over the fact that this Alien had telekinetic powers, Creed raised his DMR and opened fire on the advancing Coveneant troops, taking down grunts with head shots and jackals by shooting them in their exposed arms and leaving them vulnerable to return fire from the marines and Curana's team.

Lyon fired his grenade launcher into the largest groups of covenant troops he could find, always killing three or four with every grenade. Genia fired her rocket launcher at the Elites and any vehicles that entered the area. Talo was dragging back a wounded Salarian while his Combat Drone covered their retreat. Ataca covered the Quarian by taking pot shots at the Covenant, always piercing shields and armour with every shot of his sniper rifle.

Doro was crouched by the escape pod with the Asari crew member and another turian-the only two members of the six aliens from the second escape pod who were not soldiers. The Batarian fired his pistol-which was his only weapon considering he was not a trained infantry fighter but a pilot and driver and managed to take down a few Grunts with every thermal clip he burned through.

The Covenant slowly began to fall back, being overpowered by the combined forces of the aliens and humans. Only several Elites tried to continue the charge and ended up being picked off by Talo, Genia, Ataca, or Nathan with their sniper rifles.

As soon as the last covenant soldier fell, the gun fire ceased. Curana stood up and looked around. They had only lost a Salarian, Specialist Aalders, and a Turian soldier from the second pod, leaving her team, Nathan and his three remaining marines, two Asari, another Turian, and another Salarian. Aalders had been struck by a needler, and his intestines were scattered on the ground around his corpse; the Salarian Talo had tried to save had bled out before Talo could apply medi gel or bio foam; and the asari had ended up being stabbed through the gut with a plasma sword by an Elite.

"Form up and take care of any survivors," Nathan said to his marines. "Get Aalders' ammo and weapons and get ready, we're going to rescue our people."

"Pool all your thermal clips and grenades, and get her a pistol." Maevor gestured to the Asari crew member.

"Hey sir, we managed to bring this down with us." The Turian soldier from the group, Sergeant Venai said before he climbed on top of the pod and reached down. With help from Genia he hoisted out a crate and tossed it down to where Ataca caught it and set it down.

They opened it, revealing older models of weapons used by the Citadel.

"These don't rely on thermal clips sir. If we find ourselves out of ammo these can keep us going. They were packed in case we ran out of thermal clips and found ourselves stranded." Sergeant Venai said.

"Excellent." Maevor said. "Pack up as many as you can and spare clips for them, we'll stick to the thermal clips for as long as possible."

"Hold it." The aliens looked up to see Nathan 092 with his three marines aiming their rifles at the group. "We need to talk first."

"I thought we agreed to a truce Spartan." Curana stood up.

"First, you're going to explain a few things. What the hell are you all and why are you helping us?" Nathan asked.

"I told you, I trust you more than the Covenant." Curana replied.

"That doesn't answer my first question." Nathan said. "I won't ask again." He drew his pistol, and every alien tensed, reaching for their own weapons.

"Wait." Curana stopped them. "We're all friends here...let's answer his questions or we'll be suck here until the Covenant come back with even more troops."

She faced Nathan Creed. "As I said before, my name is Lania Curana, my rank is Spectre, meaning Special Tactics and Recon, and my race is Asari. This is my partner, Spectre Maevor Sarius, and he comes from the Turians, not the Elites that you fight day by day."

Maevor joined her, cradling his assault rifle. "And we are here on behalf of the Citadel Council."

"I've never heard of any council before." Nathan said as he took off his helmet-he found Curana showed less hostility in her voice if he didn't make her feel like she was talking to a 'robot'.

"It is a coalition of alien species which rules from a station that serves as our center of economy and military power." Curana said. "We were sent here after I discovered the conflict between you and the Covenant. The Council sent us on a stealth ship to monitor this planet while they prepared a fleet to commence a Peace Keeping Operation."

"Wait, how long have you been watching us?" Creed asked.

"For several days now. A Covenant frigate got through our stealth systems and shot us down only an hour ago." Curana replied.

"You've been watching during this entire invasion while we've been dying down here?" Creed asked, growing angry.

"What would you have us do? There's barely over a hundred of us, and that was before we were shot down. We had one ship, about the size of one of your frigates or destroyers, and we had a mission to do. The Council has a fleet of hundreds being prepared to stop this invasion."

"Well pardon me if I'm not too grateful at the moment." Creed replied coldly. "Why would you suddenly just step in and stop the war?"

"Because for the moment the main part of the conflict is restricted to your cluster, designated the Local Cluster, but it's been stretching out to systems between your cluster and ones inhabited by Citadel Colonies. The method of travel we use keeps us restricted to inhabited areas of clusters, so this war could take up a tenth of the galaxy and we might never see it. Both the Covenant and UNSC are based in what your star charts designate the Orion Arm of this galaxy, but given years or decades the covenant could eventually come into contact with ours...and we don't like the idea of a legion of aliens committed to genocide growing stronger than they already are coming to our door step."

"They're already on par with our current technology in some areas, we might just barely be able to defeat them in a battle between capital ships. We could fight them off if they chose to focus their wrath on us...but it would leave us crippled and broken." Maevor said. "It was decided by the Council that the threat must be dealt with before it can grow into one, which is the purpose of the fleet. Our objective was to scout ahead, locate a vital UNSC world, examine it, relay information back to the Citadel, and eventually initiate first contact."

"And how long would you have waited, before or after they glassed this place?" Staff Sergeant Amos growled.

"The fleet is due to arrive within under a week, possibly two or three days if we don't report in." Curana said.

"By then the Covenant might have this place glassed." Nathan said. "I appreciate the idea of aliens helping us, but I'd be even more appreciative if they came with a giant armada of ships 'before' we die."

"If you want to live, then stop talking and put the guns away." Curana said. "We can't afford to start turning on one another, we're stranded out here and you're in a bad situation yourself. So let us help with what we have, all we need is for you to trust us."

Nathan looked down at the Asari, and then to her companions. They looked like they went through hell, and had only crashed an hour ago if Curana was truthful. They had helped the marines fight off two or three platoons of covenant, and were offering to help him rescue his medic and two pilots.

But how far would the covenant go to infiltrate humanity, were they even interested in infiltration? They didn't need it, at the rate the war went they could win, and if this really was their idea of espionage they must be getting desperate.

But when he looked at her again, he couldn't help himself when the words came out of his mouth.

"Hand it to me." Curana looked up the Spartan. "Like you said, you want to help and I need to trust you. I've carried heavier things, trust me. I want to get moving, and the more guns I have the better I feel about it."

Curana relaxed. "Thank you, Spartan ."

"I told you." Nathan said as he walked past her. "My name is Nathan."

After a minute or two they got the crate latched to Nathan's back, placing his DMR in it and leaving Staff Sergeant Amos to carry his sniper rifle.

"You'll have to lead the way, and keep me covered." Nathan said to Curana as he drew his pistol. "And if any of you try to shoot me, you die first, _Spectre Curana._" Sliding a fresh clip into his pistol, he chambered a round. "Now let's get my men out of there before even more covenant show up."

If there was one thing Curana could agree with the Spartan on, it was getting the job done.

Xxx

**Delta 66 Falcon**

**Accompanying Pelican Flight 12, Falcon Squadrons 6, 7, 10, and 15, and Long Sword Squadrons Zulu 4 and Zulu 6**

**On route to UNSC Fortress Base**

**23rd hour of Covenant Invasion**

Five Pelicans accompanied by a dozen Longsword fighters and over twenty Falcons were on route to Fortress Base, which was in sight of the same Covenant Carrier that allowed Theta Outpost to be taken over. In Delta 66, Omega Team alongside Lieutenant Shaw and Sergeant Reese-who had manned the turrets were fully loaded on ammunition.

"Alright, Longsword Squadron Zulu 6 will take the lead and clear a path for the Pelicans first. Zulu 4 will follow up and make sure the Falcons get through." General Norris said, his voice heard by every air craft. "Sergeant Owens, is the ground approach secured?"

"I have three columns advancing ahead of the air craft sir. Armoured One, Two, and Three. I'm with Armoured Two going up the left flank to hit Covenant Triple A from behind." Below, a swarm of Warthogs, Mongooses with passengers carrying rocket launchers, and civilian vehicles reconfigured to be APCs and transports for soldiers were charging through the woods. "We have several columns of Scorpion Tanks and a few Elephants that'll help secure the area around Fortress Base after we mop up the covenant air craft."

"The Frigate _Ashton_ has promised to help keep Fortress Base under our control after we get it back, she's on approach from the north. ETA is fourteen minutes." Norris added. "You'd better hurry Omega Team, there are more Covenant Battle Groups engaging the Orbital Defence Ships. We're recalling nearby battle groups and calling for assistance from Echo IV, but until then I need that gun operational and ready to set up Sector Four as an evac point for civilians to get of planet."

"So that's what the plan is." Scar said. "What do we do after the evacuation is done, supposing we manage to succeed?"

"Don't worry Omega 2; we'll have plenty of work for you after the leather heads take over supervising the evacuation." Norris replied. "For now just make sure we can begin the evacuation. I've routed all rescue ships who have a full passenger bay to Red Cove, and I'll start moving civilians from New Haven directly to the Fortress Base Evacuation Zone after we have the ones at Red Cove off planet. We have three hundred million people here looking for a safe place to go Spartans, don't let me down Spartans, and most especially don't let them down." Norris cut the link.

"I just love talking to that guy, he makes me so inspired." Smithy joked before plasma detonated in mid air around them.

"Covenant Defences have active Triple A." Twist said as he avoided fire from the Anti Air Wraith variants below. "Sergeant, take them out, we have the relief force up here!" Multiple air craft moved to avoid plasma fire.

"On it! Armour One you have active Triple A ahead of you, get rid of them!" Sergeant Owens shouted.

"We're on it Sarge!" A woman replied before a Warthog with a mounted rocket turret attached to it roared ahead of the rest of the middle column and fired on the first Wraith. The AA Wraiths were less armoured than the Anti Infantry/Armour Wraith variants, so the first salvo destroyed the tank. Armour One began to make short work of the Wraith tanks and their guards.

"Zulu 6, you have the lead, clear us a path up ahead!" Chase commanded.

"Rodger Omega Leader, we are beginning our bombing run." Six of the Longswords roared ahead and began to drop shells on covenant positions between the flight of air craft and Fortress base, which was surrounded by a small army of covenant focusing on the three main entrances to the small mountain's hidden base.

"Zulu 6, bombing run complete, returning to base for re-armament." The six Longswords pulled off.

"Zulu 4, covvie air craft are moving to put up a blockade again, take them out." Twist said.

"Zulu 4, commencing attack." The second squadron of Longswords rushed to meet a wave of Banshees.

Despite their efforts, a Pelican and several Falcons were shot down, but many human air craft survived to roar over the battle. The Falcons began to launch grenades and fire machine guns into the covenant ranks while the Pelicans dropped Scorpion tanks and fresh squadrons of marines.

Delta 66 landed near the back of the UNSC blockade, and Omega Team climbed out, including Twist himself.

"Security is reporting covenant sabotage teams inside, they need help to secure the Olympus Gun." A Marine reported as the four Spartans reached the main entrance ,which was a tunnel meant for driving Elephants through when it was first built. Now it had dozens of marines setting up defences before it, including several tanks and Warthogs.

"Get us inside; we'll handle things from there." Chase commanded the NCO, who complied and led them into the tunnel.

Xxx

End of chapter


	6. Chapter 6

Mass Effect Wars

I admit that Nathan isn't what he was in ME Meets ST, well he's a Spartan but...maybe I should try to give him some of that spark he had as an FNI in ME Meets ST, a little wit and sarcasm combined with a dash of Reynolds. It's just been different without Lord Maximus there to make the setting, it's kind of like...um...hey, you ,giant Brute, come over and break my legs, the readers will get what I mean when- OH GOD MY LEGS!

Nathan Creed:...due to technical idiocy we're cutting this note short, enjoy Chapter 6, now with 50 percent more Creed.

Xxx

Chapter Six

**Visión del Cielo farming region**

**23****rd**** hour of covenant invasion**

Nathan twisted and snapped the brute's neck, riding the dead alien down as it crushed a grunt beneath it. He rolled off as plasma flew overhead. The marines and citadel troops returned fire, with Maevor guarding the munitions crate now. The last covenant soldier, a Jackal tried to back away from the advancing mix of troops, only to be gunned down easily.

"I've wanted to get my hands on one of these." Curana crouched over the dead Jackal, and took its shield emitter, which was intact unlike the rest they came across. "How do they work?"

"Slide it on and watch the magic, Blue." Nathan replied as he hefted the munitions crate, which was tied to him once again with assistance from two or three others.

"Blue?" She raised an eye brow at him.

"Do I look or sound like I can remember a name that is from some language I've never even spoken?" Nathan asked, his expression hidden under his visor.

"Lania Curana-"

"I was kidding Blue." He cut her off. "Now let's get going, my men won't wait forever."

"I think a third pod was near where the Phantom went down." Staff Sergeant Amos said. "I had a pretty good view before we came down."

As Maevor began to speak, the tree line exploded as a Banshee crashed down. A pair of Falcons flew overhead, pursuing another Banshee.

"This entire region is one big bull's eye!" Specialist MacLeod exclaimed. "Why don't we pop a flare and let the fly boy's get our guy's out?"

"Because there's too much heat at the moment MacLeod, we need to wait until the fly boy's clear out some space for us." Amos replied as the group continued at a jogging pace.

As they began to reach the foot of the last hill before they reached the crash site, Nathan paused. "Hey, my radio's picking something up!"

Setting the crate down, he placed one ear over the side of his helmet. "This is Sierra Oscar Oh-niner-two, go ahead."

"Finally, we found you! Your team was wondering where you were son!" General Norris said. "I have a satellite feeding me a nice pretty image of you right now, but I only have thermals."

"Either way, it's good to have contact with Command sir." Creed replied. "What the hell's been going on during my 'untimely death'?"

"Omega Squad was sent to Fortress Base to secure Project Olympus so we could counter attack against the Covenant Carrier and begin evacuations." Norris said. "Ever since the covenant fleet started appearing in larger numbers I've only been able to set up one other evac point besides the one I'm planning at Fortress Base. We managed to hack Covenant communications for a few minutes and found a Destroyer preparing to move to assist the Carrier and take out Fortress Base. I want you to take the soldiers you have and head to Fire Base Sierra. Sierra is an anti orbital missile site, we stopped manufacturing the design years ago, but we kept Sierra the way it was as a test facility. She has Shiva, Spartan, six of them, and that Destroyer is asking to be hit."

"Why can't the garrison at Sierra man the missiles themselves?" Creed asked.

"Because they're all dead, or trapped." Norris replied. "We've auto set three Pelicans to pick you and your team up."

"We'll need a few minutes to get a few more survivors sir, they're just on the other side of this hill." Creed said.

"Do what you have to Prince; just make sure you're ready for the Pelicans. Snap to it soldier! Stronghold Command, out." Norris cut the link.

"Who was it?" Curana asked.

"General Norris, he's the Chief of Defence for Stronghold, and he's up in orbit right now directing movements and ships." Nathan replied. "We need to get our men and any survivors from your crew within the next few minutes, after that we're heading to Sierra Base so we can knock a Covenant Destroyer out of the sky."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Talo asked.

"With Shiva nukes, half a dozen of them wrapped up nice and pretty for our covenant friends." Nathan took his sniper rifle from Amos. "Let's set up an LZ here and I'll take a team over this hill to rescue the survivors."

"I'm going with you, the sooner you learn to trust me the sooner you can stop aiming a gun at me from behind." Curana stepped forward.

"Lyon, MacLeod, you two sit your asses down and make sure the covvies don't get any bright ideas about our LZ." Amos addressed his marines. "Show these aliens how humans kick ass."

"You got it sir!" MacLeod jacked a shell into his shotgun's chamber.

"I suppose I should go too, I have the medi gel and bio foam." Talo stepped forward.

"Ataca and I can cover you from the top of the hill." Maevor added. "And Genia can keep any drop ships or fighters off your back."

"We'll only need a few minutes to go in and get my men out of the Phantom, maybe a few more to check out that pod." Nathan said.

"Let's not waste time then Lieutenant." Curana unfolded her shotgun and started up the hill, followed by Nathan, Talo, and Amos while Maevor and Ataca climbed up further along the slope.

When the mix of aliens reached the top, they looked down at the rocky terrain below. The Phantom had crashed right near where the Pod was, and two different fire fights were in progress. There was a crashed vehicle near the Phantom, a civilian SUV style vehicle repurposed as a transport for the seven militia members engaging an advancing line of Jackals with several grunts behind them. One of the pilots from the Phantom was firing his SMG from atop the wrecked drop ship while the other pilot and the medic were crouched by the wrecked vehicle.

The other fight consisted of five figures: two salarians, an asari, and two turians engaging several more jackals led by a pair of elite zealots. When Nathan looked through his scope he saw another Turian being tended to by a Salarian medic by the pod while the five soldiers provided cover.

The Spartan raised his sniper rifle and homed in on one of the zealots. A single round tore its head open, and then three more crippled the line of jackals and allowed the citadel squadron to advance and cut down the rest of the covenant soldiers while Curana, Amos, and Talo charged towards the second fire fight, covered by Maevor and Ataca.

The fire fight did not last long, only over a minute before the last enemy fell, and the three groups began to gather.

"Whoa! What the fuck?" The lead militia member raised his assault rifle. "More aliens!"

"Put that gun down." Creed got between the man and Curana as every gun went up.

Talo, Curana, Ataca, and Maevor aimed at the militiamen, Amos aimed at the Citadel squadron that came from the third pod, the militia squadron divided their aim between the two groups around them, and the pilot of the Phantom stood uncertainly, sliding a fresh clip into his SMG.

"That thing looks like a bloody Elite!" One militiaman jabbed his rifle at Maevor.

"I said to put that gun down." Creed said sternly. "Name and rank soldier!"

"Sergeant, Black, Stronghold Global Militia." The leader replied. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Lieutenant Spartan -092, UNSC Marine Corps." Creed said flatly. "And I am ordering you all to put your damn weapons down." He aimed his pistol between the Sergeant's eyes. "Or I'll shoot anyone who pulls the trigger."

"They're aliens!" Sergeant Black shouted.

"Yeah, I see that." Creed didn't falter. "They're aliens, I'm a Spartan, and I'm soon to be a pissed off Spartan. Now put your weapons down and get the wounded loaded up."

"Who the fuck do you think you are, ordering us around?" One militia member shouted.

"Uh...Perry, I think he's seven feet of walking muscle with bullet proof armour." Another militia member whispered.

Sergeant Black lowered his rifle. "What the hell is going on?"

"I asked the same thing when I met them. For now, we trust them, but if they cause any trouble you can take them out." Nathan replied.

"Ma'am!" The leader of the Citadel survivors cried out. "What do we do?"

"Just lower your guns Corporal, we're all friends here." Curana said.

"We'll get you up to speed Sergeant, but we need to get back over that hill so we can get ready for our mission." Nathan slid a fresh clip into his sniper rifle. "We're heading to Sierra Base, and I need all the help I can get."

"Sierra Base? I remember that place, there was a mob protesting something about nuclear missiles there a week ago." Sergeant Black said.

"Well, they were correct, and now we need those missiles." Nathan hang his rifle on his back. "We have three Pelicans inbound to drop us off there so we can set them on a course for a covenant destroyer. You have five minutes to hear the most ridiculous story this side of the Milky Way, believe we've found intelligent life that isn't looking to kick our ass, and then get your team over the damn hill, if I get any insubordination from anybody, human or otherwise I will have no problem with putting down any offenders." He turned and left Amos to begin explaining.

Curana followed him. She smiled at Maevor. "I like this one."

"You always like the ones with the biggest mouth." The Turian Spectre replied.

Xxx

**UNSC Fortress Base**

Chase slammed the butt of his rifle down on the Elite's face and then put two rounds into it for good measure. "Move up!"

Five marines rushed down the hall and took up position at the T junction, firing down both corridors at unseen enemy teams.

"Captain Thomas, this is Spartan 067, Junction E on Level 7 is secured." Chase said into his radio.

"Excellent work, now move your team up to the Gunnery Control Center, I lost contact with the me nstationed there and- what? Oh shit! Covenant!" Gun fire rang out over the link before all went silent.

"I think the Command Center just got hit." Chase addressed Omega Squad. "Twist, Scar, head up there and clean it out. Smithy, on me, we'll check the Gunnery Control Center. Keep your radios on at all times."

The four Spartans separated. As Smithy and Chase rushed around a corner, the base shook.

"Warning, enemy vessel is approaching. Warning, enemy vessel is approaching." Fortress Base's Dumb AI repeated over and over again.

"Damn it, if that thing gets a close shot off it'll take out the entire base." Smithy pushed through ha group of panicking technicians as she and Chase rushed down a flight of stairs.

"I know, that's why we need the gun up and running." Chase replied. "You three, with us!" He barked at a trio of marines who were standing guard at the bottom of the steps. "We're heading to the Gunnery Controls, we think it got hit!"

"We're with you sir!" The PFC in charge eagerly replied.

The five humans rushed down the corridor and ran past two more marines who were firing over a barricade at a group of Grunts. Ignoring the fire fight, they opened a set of security doors and came upon a pair of Jackals with plasma carbines firing on four hidden marines. Gunning them down from behind, the team moved on as the four marines waved to them from their barricade.

Taking a right, the team came into an older pat of Fortress Base from when it used to used for disassembling frigates. The room had containers of spare parts and non-functioning machines. Up above, a single marine retreated from a trio of Grunts, firing his battle rifle wildly. On the bottom floor, two marines were trying to hold back an Elite that cloaked itself.

As the team advanced in slowly, one marine was cut down. The team opened fire on the shimmer and was rewarded by the sight of the Elite falling, torn open by multiple gunshot wounds.

"I'll call for back up; the Gunnery Control isn't far ahead!" The single Private shouted, waving the group on through.

Xxx

Scar cut the Elite's throat from behind and a split second later snapped the jackal's neck before the Elite even fell. With his knife left in the throat of the dead Elite, he opened a small compartment on his left gauntlet and unwound a long metallic wire that was coiled up in the compartment. Wrapping the wire around the throat of the final Jackal as it screeched and reached for the plasma pistol at its waist, he pulled tight on the wire and almost decapitated the Jackal before it died.

Unwinding the wire from the Jackal's neck, he retracted it into its compartment and retrieved his knife. "Thanks for the help Twist."

Suddenly a gun went off, and Scar spun, ducking as over a dozen 12.7mm rounds went into the Elite that had uncloaked behind him. He looked back at Twist, who held two pistols in his hands. The pilot replied in his usual bright and happy tone. "You're welcome Scar."

Sheathing his knife, Scar grabbed the MA37 assault rifle he had taken in favour of his sniper rifle for this mission due to the close quarters combat and proceeded into the middle of a fire fight that was ending in the covenant's favour. Six or seven marines lay dead while two were retreating, firing their rifles at a pair of Hunters!

"Take cover!" Scar tugged one marine into cover.

The other marine was hit and vaporized by a Fuel Rod Cannon. Twist leaped into cover before it could strike his shields.

"Well shit, this isn't my idea of a vacation. I want my money back." Twist replied casually as he took out several grenades...by several Twist would mean a bandoleer of 12 fragmentation grenades, a pair of spike grenades, and a plasma grenade. He had managed to fit the small arsenal onto his armour easily, now he would put it to good use. "I'll provide the main course, slip out back and grab some fresh groceries." He gestured with his head to where a rocket launcher lay next to a dead marine. "We'll need something with some more...spice."

"Splendid idea, Chef Twist." Scar rolled his eyes. "Cut the weird code talk and just come out with it from now on Twist, you sound like you're on some tv show. Now cover me and try not to blow my ass up."

The Elder Spartan rushed from cover as Twist and the marine tossed a pair of fragmentation grenades in. The Hunters ducked behind their shields. They were unable to move across the room due to some rubble, but they could easily kill the trio with their fuel rod cannons if they got a good shot in. The marine tossed his second grenade, and Twist tossed a spike grenade in.

Scar rolled and came up with the rocket launcher. He fired one rocket at each Hunter. When the smoke cleared, both Hunters were down.

Tossing the empty launcher aside, Scar looked to the pair. "Next."

Twist chuckled. "You're one crazy son of a bitch Scar."

"I'll break your nose for that later, let's get to Command and see who fucked up and let the covvies in." Scar hefted his MA37.

"I'll go with you guys, there's nothing important right here anyways." The last marine, a Staff Sergeant said. "Those two big mother fuckers came from command."

"In that case we'd better get going before they fortify." Twist said, scooping up a shotgun.

Collecting more grenades from the defeated squadron of marines, the trio pressed on.

Xxx

"I still say you're making a huge mistake Spartan, these are aliens." Sergeant Black growled as he climbed into one of the two Pelicans.

"Feel free to make a complaint to the proper authorities then Sergeant, for now shut your mouth and follow my orders." Nathan snapped.

Doro had taken the time on the Seraph Alpha to look up the standard UNSC controls for most of their air based craft. It took her a few minutes, but she had the Pelican set to manual and was ready to pilot with Maevor serving as her co pilot and Talo as their third crew member. They had most of the Citadel soldiers and crew in the back. The first Pelican, designated Echo 1 was carrying fifteen different aliens in the passenger section-having no spare supplies or other objects to take up weight aside from the ammo crate and the Salarians and Asari were lighter than the average human. Echo Two had one of Creed's pilots manning it alone and carried Amos, MacLeod, Lyon, Creed himself, three Militia Members, and Curana, who had to choose between one of the other two drop ships to allow Echo 1 to fly-she chose Echo 2, which had the Spartan who trusted her slightly more than the other humans did.

Echo 3, piloted by the last pilot carried Sergeant Black, his last three soldiers, and Creed's Medic.

"Alright, we're all ready to go." Creed said. "Echo 1, hang back in case we have AA fire, you have over half of us on board."

"I copy Echo 2." Doro replied, smoothly guiding the Pelican into an ascent.

The three Pelicans glided over a relatively silent area of the battle that took place through the farming region. Several scattered fire fights here or there were all that was left of the combat nearby. Creed could see the mountain where Fortress Base was located from the cockpit of Echo 2, and saw the Covenant ships approaching it.

The Destroyer was in plain sight, but it wouldn't be in existence for much longer.

"We're pretty damn close sir, how should we go about this?" Sergeant Amos asked.

Creed saw Sierra Base ahead. It was almost entirely taken over by Covenant, who had AA turrets set up and tried to blast the Pelicans as they did a fly by.

"Echo 1, you drop your troops in the woods and help them move in on the compound. I'll take my team and drop around the back. Echo 3, drop Sergeant Black and his team on top of the Command Hub. Black, you give us cover, you have the rocket launchers." Creed ordered. "Go now!"

The three Pelicans split up and began to drop their loads at their assigned locations. Creed, Curana, Amos, Lyon, MacLeod, and three militia members stood in the middle of a slope now, leading upwards towards where some Covenant were hidden in the rocks, firing to keep the humans away from Sierra Base.

"Contact! Enemy Contact! Lyon, take them out!" Creed shouted as his team scattered for cover.

"This is Echo 1, my squadron is engaging the enemy infantry." Doro said over the radio as Lyon fired a grenade that sent three grunts into the air.

"Alright, counter attack into those rocks! Let Lyon soften them up first and then charge them!" Creed fired a shot from his sniper rifle.

The team advanced up the slope as Lyon rained down four more grenades on the covenant defenders over the next minute of fighting. By the time it was done not one human or in Curana's case Asari had fallen. They rushed up and came upon Sierra Base below. It had no perimeter walls, as it was meant to be a launch site for missiles. It had cement structures surrounding ten silos-only six of which would be loaded. Several teams of marines and militia fought to keep covenant away from the command hub, where Sergeant Black and his team had touched down and joined the defenders as Echo 3 pulled away.

"Lieutenant Creed," (familiar phrase, ain't it?) Doro said. "Genia and her squadron have breached the covenant perimeter and are moving to assist. If you clear out the mobile artillery vehicles, or perhaps capture some you could better hold the base."

"Alright, I'll head for the covenant artillery and hijack a Revenant." Creed replied.

"I'll go with you." Curana slid a fresh thermal clip into her assault rifle.

Though he still had difficulty instantly accepting an alien's help, he trusted her more than he would trust a plasma sword bearing Elite. "The rest of you draw some of the infantry away from Black's team."

The duo rushed across the sandy plain to where revenants were spreading out in preparation for a barrage against the command hub. Creed rushed to the top of a low rock cliff barely ten feet hig hand leaped down o none Revenant as it drove by. Jamming his knife into the passenger Elite's throat, he kicked the driver out and looked up to Curana. "Jump!"

The Asari took the passenger seat, and they shot across the field. As they passed alongside the advancing line of Revenants, Curana tossed a grenade up, and directed it with her Biotics so it slammed into one Revenant right where the two drivers had time to stare at the grenade between them before it detonated, destroying the Revenant and sending them both flying, half incinerated.

Creed used the artillery gun to take out another Revenant before the last two turned on the hijacked artillery vehicle. Avoiding plasma bombardments, Creed continued to return fire with his own artillery. Managing to outmanoeuvre the two Revenants, Creed managed to destroy one more before a Ghost slammed into the hijacked vehicle. Crying out, the Spartan and Asari were sent into a ditch with the Ghost. The grunt flew out of the seat, and landed on top of the crashed Revenant's hood.

Slowly raising its head, the red Grunt hesitantly crawled up to peek down at the seats. The Spartan was over the Asari, having used his shields and armour to protect her from debris and the impact. Encircled in his grasp, Curana brought her pistol up and put one round into the Grunt's face before it could react. "You can let go now, Lieutenant Creed."

Releasing her, Nathan climbed out of the Revenant and saw what was left of his sniper rifle nearby. Cursing, he took out his DMR. The Pelicans had been carrying a few extended magazines that Nathan favoured, over a hundred rounds worth of ammunition. Sliding one clip in, he climbed to the top of the ditch and peered through the scope at the covenant lines as they clashed with the marines. Curana was next to him a second later, tinkering with the shield emitter she had taken.

"We're on foot; there is two hundred feet of ground between us and the marines and three or four hundred covvies closing in." Creed commented. "Any ideas?"

"I provide cover, you take that big plasma launcher right there and we get to the humans?" Curana asked before her shield flashed to life. "I hooked this up to my suit and transferred power from my shields so this might last a little longer."

"You have shields on that?" Creed asked, looking at her.

"Nothing compared to the ones you have, and they aren't good for plasma. The basic design of our technology was meant to repel projectiles until a century or two ago when we managed to make a few...modifications." Curana slid her visor down over her face. "Now keep up."

Picking up the Plasma Launcher she had indicated and getting spare ammunition for it from its dead Elite owner, Creed positioned himself behind Curana as they rushed across the field. Trying to use the low dunes for cover, they remained low and avoided plasma fire overhead. Barely a quarter of the way across, a Ghost came over the nearest dune and charged at them, plasma shots reducing the ground around the duo to glass. Creed fired three shots, but only one struck the front of the Ghost, which served off to the side as a trio of grunts followed it.

Curana fired her pistol around the shield at the Grunts as Creed tracked the Ghost. As the Elite angled the Ghost around, Nathan squeezed off two shots. Both struck the Ghost, which detonated and incinerated the driver. As Curana put the last Grunt down, they continued to jog towards where the marines were fighting to keep the covenant away. Around twenty men and women were crouching behind cement barriers and manning machine guns, mowing down dozens of covenant troopers.

Sergeant Black had left two men on top of the command hub to serve as snipers. The two militia members were reloading their rifles when a Revenant got a lucky shot in and hit the roof of the Command Hub. Though the structure remained intact, the two men were vaporised instantly.

"Sergeant Amos, lay down fire on the covenant flank. Aesino, attack from the far side." Curana instructed. "We're almost there, but it appears the marines are being pushed back."

It took a repeat of orders from Creed for Amos to do what he was told before Amos, Lyon, MacLeod and the three militia members fired from a low rise, taking pot shots at the grunt ranks while Lyon fired his grenade launcher, taking out a pair of Brutes in the column. The Covenant began to spread out and fire on the positions of Amos, Genia, and Sergeant Black with overlapping fields of fire.

Creed and Curana joined the defence just in time, sliding to a stop with Curana deflecting rounds of plasma. Creed reloaded his launcher and began to fire nonstop into covenant ranks as he and Curana backed up to the barricade behind them.

As Curana leaped over the barricade, followed by Creed a marine stared at her outlandish armour. "Who the hell are you?"

"She's with me, now keep firing Private!" Not wanting to piss of the seven foot tall super soldier, the marine fired his battle rifle at a trio of advancing grunts.

Next to Curana, a marine communications specialist lay dead, his long range radio still broadcasting a message. Curana looked down at the radio and listened to it.

"Sierra Actual this is Tango 3, you have a Covenant Heavy inbound for your position!" A woman shouted through it. "Repeat, this is Pelican Tango 3, you have a Scarab closing in on you!"

"Lieutenant!" Curana shouted to Creed, who was sliding the last energy cells into his plasma launcher.

"What is it?" He shouted before firing twice over the barricade.

"What is a Scarab?" Curana asked.

"Why do you want to know now?" He snapped.

"Because there is one approaching!" Curana pointed at the radio.

"Oh shit," Creed backed away from the barricade and looked for the commanding officer, who turned out to be a young second Lieutenant. "Lieutenant! What vehicles do you have here?"

"We have a few Warthogs and Mongooses in the garage!" The marine replied. "Getting ideas?"

"We have a Scarab inbound, break out the rocket launchers and get me two or three fire teams to mount those vehicles." Creed said. "I'll take them in and disable the Scarab."

"Fire teams 3, 6, and 8, you're with the Spartan! Head to the garage!" The marine barked into his radio. "Form up on Sierra!"

He then banged his fist on the metal security door. "Echo, Echo, Zulu 6! I have a Spartan who wants in!"

The door hissed open, revealing eight marines armed with shotguns and assault rifle that let Nathan, Curana, and nine other marines through. Inside the base, the remnants of the base personnel were just barely keeping to their assigned jobs as the marines led Nathan and Curana down into the garage where a Gauss Warthog, a Carrier Warthog, and two Mongooses were waiting. There was also a storage locker filled with rocket launchers opened up for them.

Dropping his empty plasma launcher and taking up a rocket launcher along with reserve ammunition, Creed climbed on one Mongoose. Curana slid in behind him a rocket launcher in her hand also. She frowned. "These might be powerful, but they seem a little heavy."

"That's kind of expected when you're shooting rockets sweet heart." Creed watched as the garage doors opened.

With two marines on the second mongoose, two on the Gauss Hog, and the Carrier Hog carrying three in the back, one in the passenger seat and a driver the vehicles roared out into the day light just as the Scarab began to climb over one of the nearby structures. It was massive, and it was ready to rip the command hub apart.

"Alright, aim for the legs and take that bastard down, I'll get inside and disable it!" Creed shouted.

"You heard the man!" The Driver of the Gauss Hog said as he manoeuvred to avoid a shot from the Scarab's main gun.

The four vehicles scattered around the massive walker.

"By the goddess..." Curana whispered. "I've never seen or fought anything that big before!"

"Well, first time for everything!" Creed replied. "Now when I get under it, aim for the joints of its legs. We'll disable it so I can climb in through the back before it can get itself back on its feet."

Nodding, Curana hefted the launcher as Creed drove under the walker. Slowing down so she had a clear shot, Creed shouted. "Now!"

Curana aimed for the joint of the rear right leg and fired two shots. Both rockets impacted and explosions rippled through the leg. The walker staggered a bit, but remained upright as the Gauss Hog made a pass under it, ripping into it with accelerated projectiles.

Through their combined efforts and with the loss of the second Mongoose via the Scarab stomping on it and crushing both marines they managed to damage the legs enough. Alarms wailed, and the Scarab slowly lowered itself down, repairing itself as Creed pulled up behind it. Leaping off his ride, he raised his rocket launcher and fired two shots.

In the bottom bay of the Scarab, a Brute was manning a plasma turret and was guarded by three Grunts and an Elite. The rocket took out all but the Elite, and that was taken care of when Creed leaped aboard the Scarab and fired point blank into the Elite's throat with his DMR. Curana got into the driver's seat and backed the vehicle up, watching with awe as Creed came out on the top deck of the Scarab, slit a Brute's throat, snapped another one's neck, shot two Grunts with his pistol in one hand with barely a glance.

Creed dispatched two Elites and three Jackals before making his way to the back of the Scarab and loaded his rocket launcher. He fired at the shielded core twice, and after firing his last two rockets at the exposed energy core, the alarms began to wail again, signalling the Scarab was set to blow!

Creed ditched his rocket launcher and leaped right off the Scarab, rolling as he landed and rushed to Curana. He hopped on the back of the warthog. "Go!"

Curana gunned the Mongoose, but barely got ten feet before they were sent flying by the detonation of the Scarab's core. The shockwave also sent the two Warthogs rolling, scattering their marine occupants.

Creed hit the ground, and looked up in time to see Curana land next to him and spot a rather large piece of debris heading right for them. Grabbing Curana, he rolled aside and let it impale the ground where her neck had been. They both stumbled away and rolled down a slope where they remained still. After the debris stopped falling, Curana slowly climbed back up the slope and peered over it. "Lieutenant! The Covenant are in retreat!"

Creed joined her and saw barely half of the covenant invasion force was left standing and now retreating to their Spirit Drop ships as his three Pelicans fired on them, herding the drop ships away so they didn't get any ideas.

The humans came out of hiding, cheering! Some marines scoured the corpses and put down covenant survivors who tried to resist being detained. Dragging away a wounded Elite, a few Grunts, and even a Brute, the humans put them under guard of some of the pilots who hadn't the chance to get into their birds before the landing field had been destroyed earlier. Each pilot had covenant plasma weapons or shotguns aimed at the prisoners and bore an enraged expression.

Amos and Genia led their teams down to the human barricade. Neither team had suffered any casualties, but the Citadel Squadron silenced every human that saw them.

Several raised their weapons cautiously, confused as to why the Spartan wasn't the first to attack the aliens who had walked right up to them. Maevor looked to his team and gestured for them to stand down and not attempt to shoot anybody. After several seconds of silence, Creed strolled up until he and Curana stood next to Maevor.

"These soldiers are under my protection." He announced. "If you have any problems with that, then speak now. Otherwise put your guns down, take position inside so we can blow some covenant out of the sky, and then I'll feel happy to answer any questions." Creed found himself getting annoyed that every human he had come across responded to the aliens with silence and suspicion-in the late Sergeant Black's case anger, though Creed himself was still weary of certain members of Curana's team such as Ataca the large Krogan.

They had helped them destroy a Scarab, and now they could destroy any covenant vessels within reach. The covenant would not sacrifice their ships just to pull off a trick like this, not when there was so much at stake. With the destruction of the Destroyer, the Fortress Base could fire upon and destroy any covenant vessels in the region or in orbit over Defence Sector 4, starting with a carrier that was closing in on it. It would cripple the Covenant invasion and waste too much resources and man power for the covenant to allow just so they could slip some spies in, they could have just resumed tearing into the UNSC defences until they overpowered the humans just like on Reach and every other planet they took over.

Nathan 'Prince' Creed trusted these aliens now ,enough not to check up on them every ten seconds to make sure they didn't stab him in the back or steal his ammo-then again he never trusted anybody outside of his team more than that. He led the way through the crowd of marines. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get everybody inside! We're going to be launching nukes here!"

This got the marines moving. The three Pelicans Creed brought were allowed to land in an empty hangar that hadn't been targeted. Each structure of sierra Base was soon sealed, and dozens of humans were waiting as Creed, Curana, Maevor, Ataca, Talo, Doro, and Genia entered the command center. The gathered operators stared at the aliens with a mixture of fascination, fear, and disgust. Creed joined the Base's Commander, Captain Dalton where he stood before the firing controls for the Shiva Nuclear Missiles.

"Thanks for the assistance Spartan, and uh...I guess I should thank you all too...whatever you are." Dalton said, looking at the gathered aliens. "I don't know where the hell you came from and for the moment I don't care, I'll bitch to the Spartan about it after I blow that Destroyer out of the sky."

"Sir, firing coordinates set." A Lieutenant reported.

"Shiva One is set for launch!"

"Target at 546 meters altitude!"

"Compensate for target movement so we hit the bastard right in the center." Dalton ordered.

"Inputting target speed...interception set, seventeen miles from Fortress Base sir ,we'd better hurry, at this rate the Destroyer will be able to blow the base to hell in about four minutes." The Lieutenant coolly applied sets of codes to the firing commands. "Alright, Shiva One is Set."

"Tango 8 has scouted the area sir, there are no UNSC forces left." An Officer called from his station. "Sat 9 will transmit an image for us."

"Confirm base lockdown."

"Lockdown is confirmed sir, we're safe."

"Inputting Firing Authorization Codes." Dalton said as an interface appeared before him. He did a retinal scan, a fingerprint scan, and then typed in a fifteen digit code an added his name on the end of it.

**AUTHORIZATION CONFIRMED. SHIVA MISSILE ONE WILL DEPLOY IN FOFRTY FIVE SECONDS.**

"Get ready for some fireworks." Dalton crossed his arms as the room dimmed down and the main screen showed a camera view from a satellite in orbit, which was looking down at the region of Visión del Cielo. It was easy to spot since it was a brown and black blotch on the green and blue beauty of Stronghold.

"Firing in thirty seconds Captain."

Xxx

At Fortress Base, the marines retreated inside as sirens wailed, signalling a nuclear strike would be made nearby. The covenant at first taunted the retreating humans, but soon realized something was not right when the humans left behind even their vehicles and anything they couldn't carry with them as if they didn't care to use it against the Covenant...

As the last humans vanished, thick security doors began to come down over every entrance. The covenant could breach them given a few minutes, but when something flew into the air miles away, the Elite General realized what was happening. He barked orders for the troops to retreat to safety, but knew all was lost as the nuclear missile began to arch down from high above right towards the Destroyer that was to assist with the destruction of the human base.

Inside the base, the covenant soldiers had been eliminated and now Omega team was watching through cameras from the Fire Control Center and the Command Center.

In both rooms, every human had been slaughtered before Omega Team had retaken them and allowed reserve technicians and personnel to take over handling the controls. Fortress Base could open fire...right after the light show was done.

"Omega Leader this is General Norris, I have my eyes on Sector 4 right now. Do you see anything?" Norris asked over the radio.

"Somebody launched a nuke." Chase said.

"Damn right Spartan, and guess who did it on my order?" Norris smiled. "Allow me to re-introduce you all."

Nathan Creed was brought into the conversation. "Guys, I really hope you're all underground right now."

"Prince!" Smithy shouted.

"Aw hell, I owe you ten bucks Twist." Scar said to his companion.

"Ha, knew you were alive you son of a bitch." Chase smirked, taking off his helmet. "We see it, good job."

"We'll have to shut down the cameras sir." A marine said to Chase.

"Do it and give me a sat view." Chase ordered.

Upon getting the same images Nathan was seeing, the Spartans and humans watched as the missile got closer and closer to the Destroyer.

It impacted, and a mushroom cloud shot up into the air, visible from where General Norris was directing the destruction of a Covenant Battle group.

For two full minutes every single human or alien watching waited until the word came in.

"Sir, the Covenant Destroyer has been destroyed!" An Operator up in Norris' MAC Platform shouted.

Thousands of humans broke into cheers as covenant ships began to retreat. Though the region was barren now, it could have been much worse.

"Hey General, how are we going to use this place as an evac point now?" Chase asked.

"Fortress Base can hold thousands of civilians while we get off world transport for them. Don't worry Lieutenant I won't let them die of Radiation Poisoning. I'm dispatching three of the support frigates to act as transport to Gate Way Station so we can begin our evacuation." Norris replied. "Spartan 092, meet up with your squad at Fortress Base. Spartan 067, prepare Project Olympus and get rid of those Covenant Ships in your area."

"You got it sir." Chase nodded.

Xxx

The small mountain literally began to open up as soon as the command was given. A large MAC cannon was left visible when it was all over. It could be rotated for 360 fire and could fire up into the atmosphere easily. The gun slowly hummed to life and began to lock onto the Covenant Carrier that had overtaken Theta Outpost.

After two full minutes of charging, the MAC gun fired, deafening anybody who was not in or under Fortress Base. It was heard for dozens of miles as the MAC round almost instantaneously hit the Carrier and almost pierced the shielding.

"First salvo failed to penetrate, preparing second shot." Chase said. "We have a full load over here General, two hundred MAC rounds. Want any for the platforms up in orbit?"

"We have plenty up here ourselves Lieutenant, just focus on the ships in your area. UNSC ships are coordinating to make sure they don't slip off anywhere else or try to escape into orbit." Norris said.

"General...before I head to Fortress Base...there is something you'll really want to see for yourself sir." Nathan said.

"What is it Lieutenant?" Norris asked.

"Uh...it's kind of a surprise."

Xxx

Nathan looked at the aliens gathered before him. After it was safe, the Pelicans were deployed to where other pods had crashed and were collecting survivors from the Seraph Alpha's crew. Sierra Base had plenty of room due to the death of over eighty percent of its original marine compliment and base personnel, but for now the aliens were kept in the fuel depot, which had plenty of room to accommodate over eighty aliens and allow them to begin treating their wounded.

Dalton had orders to keep the other five Shiva Nukes in reserve. He had gotten lucky that the Destroyer's shields had been down thanks to the near sacrifice of two UNSC frigates, so until he had another perfect target like the Destroyer he would not put the nuclear missiles to use. He had made it clear that none of the aliens were to be harmed, or else he'd shoot the offender himself.

"I'd suggest sending a Pelican down sir." Nathan added. "I might have to bring them up myself...so nobody shoots them before they have a chance to talk to you."

Xxx

End of Chapter

Ok...it took a while...but my leg is finally fixed! (stands up on two feet) Ok, it was a bad idea to explain it to you that way...I'll just say this, typing with Lord Maximus is like being agonizingly crippled by a Brute, so I'm not exactly hitting the mark with this story.


	7. Chapter 7

Mass Effect Wars

Xxx

Chapter Seven

**Serpent Nebula**

**Citadel Station**

"FTL communications cease eleven hours ago after the Seraph Alpha transmitted an automated distress beacon." Executor Palin noted as he and the council examined the data flowing in front of them. "We can only assume they were discovered and destroyed or possibly have set down somewhere to hide."

"The stealth mission was a failure then." Councillor Libran sounded disappointed. "Where does this leave us?"

"The data showed a covenant invasion of the human planet," Councillor Wrana said. "We do have three battle groups of ships fully prepared, and we have integrated some of the captured covenant and human technology into the dreadnaughts leading each battle group."

"Are you proposing that we initiate our operation ahead of schedule and with so few ships?" Lorania asked her colleague.

"I recognize a threat when I see it Councillor Lorania, and this Covenant has already become one." Wrana replied. "The worst case scenario at the moment is that they have captured the Seraph Alpha or parts of it or the crew intact and are well on their way to discovering our secrets. If that is the case then a first strike against their invasion fleet will be necessary."

"Councillor Wrana does bear an excellent point, the Covenant do seem quite determined to eliminate the humans, and if they have eliminated the Seraph or captured it then they have made themselves enemies of the Citadel Alliance." Councillor Libran added.

"At the most I could pull together five more battle groups if I stretch patrols at the surrounding relays." Executor Palin said hesitantly. "That would be over a hundred vessels altogether, perhaps enough to establish a foot hold and allow us to assist the humans, all the while retrieving the Seraph Alpha and its crew...if they are still in one piece or on Stronghold."

"This may be a rash decision we are making, it was already risky to commit ourselves to enforcing a cease fire upon the humans and the covenant given the size of the conflict, but to attempt to do so with barely half of the ships we had planned to use would be arrogant and foolish." Lorania interjected.

"Foolish, desperate, but the most we can hope for unless we wish to wait and see if the covenant have our secrets and are preparing to include us in this war of theirs." Wrana looked at Lorania. "I for one don't want to see one of our planets turned to glass, Lorania."

The Asari backed down. "You are correct...Executor Palin, bring as many ships as you can without compromising the relay perimeters and prepare the fleet. Keep this out of the public eye, commanders are to look to Protocol 7.32-D: All ships that receive command 'Core Circle' are to meet at Rally Point A and may not acknowledge or transmit any messages until they arrive."

"It shall be done, Council." Executor Palin bowed his head and left.

Xxx

**Turian Dreadnaught **_**Right Hand of Palaven**_

**Serpent Nebula**

**Three Hours Since Code 'Core Circle' Distribution**

Captain Garrus Vakarian stared once again at the message he had received on his Omni Tool before being dragged from C Sec to the Dreadnaught.

**Vakarian, Garrus**

**Citadel Security, Detective**

**You are being transferred to active Citadel Alliance Military Service to assist with Operation Stronghold (details shall be given out upon completion of rendezvous at Rally Point A). You are being given the honorary rank of Infantry Captain on the Turian Dreadnaught TD21 **_**Right Hand of Palaven**_** for the duration of this mission. You have been recommended to this position for your excellent military service and flawless work in Citadel Security and have been deemed a vital member of Operation Stronghold.**

**You shall be given command of Company B, Citadel Alliance Infantry Battalion 6.**

**You may return to C Sec or continue active military service upon the end of Operation Stronghold.**

**Executor Palin-Commanding Officer of Stronghold Fleet**

"I should have guessed Palin would find a way to screw me over eventually." The Turian muttered before he slid on his helmet and joined the other aliens departing the shuttle.

They came out into the hangar of the _Right Hand_, which was flowing with dozens of new arrivals anging from Turians and Asari to even several Krogan who usually grouped together. One Krogan happened to climb off the same ship as Garrus. He was a Battlemaster, no doubt about it. Clad in red armour that matched his eyes, the Krogan had yellow skin and a scar across his face. When he noticed the Turian staring, he narrowed his eyes. "Have something to say Turian?"

He didn't sound as aggressive as most Krogan Garrus had spoken to in his life. It was a voice that was warning Garrus to make sure he proceeded in the right direction before he replied

"I apologize," Garrus began. "It's not often that a Krogan Battlemaster is included with a Citadel Council sanctioned operation."

"They had no choice but to include me when they took one of my people for their first mission." The Krogan crossed his arms.

"First mission?" Garrus blinked. "Is this some sort of second wave?"

"In a manner of speaking, but don't worry Turian, the last 'wave' was one stealth ship." The Krogan chuckled. "Urdnot Wrex, Clan Leader and Battlemaster."

"I've heard of your clan, you've been working very hard on dominating smaller clans in the past few months." Garrus noted.

"Dominating?" Wrex huffed. "Clan Hunera loves to spread rumours about my Alliance. I didn't dominate them Turian, I sent offers of allegiance to them, explained the benefit of accepting my offer, and many chose to join."

"Krogan clans don't usually join together for anything." Garrus said, surprised.

"The past is the past, we need to adapt to the present, meaning some old traditions need to change." Wrex replied. "The Council borrowed one of my personal body guards, a sniper named Urdnot Ataca. I'm here to make sure we get one of our best men and one of our few Fertinane left back in one piece."

A Fertinane! It was like comparing to an Ardat Yahkshi of the Asari or any other genetic offshoot, escept the Fertinane were plain Krogan except for one thing: They had the highest breeding ratio.

Fertinane were rare and highly valued Krogans. They could not create hundreds of children per mating session, but could create at least three or four for every pregnancy and successful delivery. One Fertinane even ended up making a dozen Krogan children from one spouse. Urdnot Ataca would be a valued prize to Clan Urdnot and its alliance.

"What was the mission?" Garrus asked.

"Can't tell you that Turian, now stand aside, I need to rally my clan mates." Wrex marched off.

A rather odd transport docked with the dreadnaught as the Krogan Clan Leader left Garrus to his thoughts. It was an old scout ship design, perhaps used by the Turians a century ago. It was patched up and modified...and it let out a wave of thirty Quarians.

"Ah, Lieutenant Zorah, welcome to the Right Hand." An Asari officer met their leader, a female Quarian who shook her hand. "Executor Palin has assigned most of your crew to engineering, he trusts that they are as good as Admiral Serath describes them."

"My men are the best the Migrant Fleet can offer the expedition." Lieutenant Zorah said. "Direct me to the quarters where they are to set up and I shall make certain that they are ready for active duty."

"Deck six, compartment F7." The Asari handed her a data pad. "Do you need any assistance with equipment transportation?"

"No, we have only what we carry." Lieutenant Zorah shook her head as the transport pulled away.

"Very well." The Asari nodded. "Captain! Could you escort Lieutenant Zorah and her people to their barracks?"

Upon realizing he was being called, Garrus approached and nodded. "I'm not expected for several hours, I have the time, follow me Lieutenant."

He had served on the Right Hand before, he knew it by heart, and easily led the Quarians on the correct path.

"First a Krogan Clan Leader and now the Council has allowed the Migrant Fleet to be involved? This mission must be of great importance." He commented.

"The Council recently dispatched a stealth mission to an unknown region of space, they won't tell us the purpose or location." Lieutenant Zorah said. "On the ship sent was a Quarian who was recruited for a Special Squadron put together by the Spectre placed in charge. He is the son of Admrial Tolan'Serath vas Nova: Talo'Serath nar Idenna. I am to make sure he returns to the Migrant Fleet unharmed."

"Odd, the Krogan said one of his personal body guards and Fertinane had been brought in on that mission." Garrus stopped before the door leading to their barracks. "Here we are Lieutenant Zorah, just put in your full name and rank and the door will be open to you and your people at any time."

Lieutenant Zorah approached the door. "Tali'Zora vas Neema, Lieutenant."

"Access Granted." The doors hissed open to a makeshift air lock made to allow safe passage into the barracks of the Quarians.

"Farewell Lieutenant." Garrus nodded.

"Thank you Captain." Tali entered the air lock with several of her crew members behind her.

Heading for his assigned barracks, Garrus pushed through crowds of soldiers, pilots, and crew.

'What was the stealth mission? Why would the council let Krogans and Quarians get involved?' Garrus thought. 'And where the hell did they send the mission? Where are WE going?'

Xxx

**Stronghold**

**UNSC Halcyon Class Cruiser **_**Raven Wing**_

**High Orbit over Stronghold, Sector 4**

**41****st**** hour of Covenant Invasion**

It had taken hours before the Spartans at Fortress Base or Nathan Creed and his band of Aliens at Sierra Base could go anywhere close to orbit. The Covenant had persisted in holding Sector 4, but with Fortress Base's Olympian MAC Gun ripping apart their capital ships and the threat of Nuclear missiles from Sierra Base they withdrew to the airspace over Theta Outpost, which was out of view of the Olympian Cannon unless the humans wished to carve through a mountain that cut it off from the peninsula Theta was located at. Sierra couldn't risk firing off a missile unless they wished to give their position away to other covenant units, so an operation was being planned to remove the army at Theta Outpost's position.

General Norris soon had all five members of Omega Team gathered before him along with the most disturbing sight: aliens not trying to kill him. Curana had come with Talo'Serath alongside her, as they were the least intimidating yet the best option in case the guards got trigger happy.

"Lieutenant, you can't really expect me to trust the first aliens that just pop out of nowhere right in the middle of us getting our asses handed to us." General Norris said.

"General, it's because of them that we have eliminated seven covenant ships. If they wished to infiltrate us they would have used a less costly plan." Prince 092 tried to reason with the officer.

"We don't know how far the covenant would go to secure victory. This place is our last barrier before Earth, and I won't let it go down like Reach did." Norris sat back in his chair.

"Sir, I trust them, if that isn't enough then perhaps ONI should have found somebody else to be a Spartan." Nathan Creed narrowed his eyes. "They chose me because they trust me to fight battles and retrieve information for them, if I can't do that correctly then you should shoot me now."

With him out of the suit, he looked somewhat human. He wore a simple black dress uniform and only had his pistol strapped to his belt and no other weapons. Without the battle scarred armour he looked as normal as a seven foot tall super human killing machine could get.

"Lieutenant, listen to yourself. Do you really want me to endanger everything by trusting the word of one Second Lieutenant who's made nice with a few aliens who just conveniently appear to save the day?" Norris shook his head.

"General, we have already offered to give you all the information we can to explain our being here-" Curana began.

"And the boys down in Navy Intel are looking through it as we speak. Until we have answers I am not going to trust you with anything more than the rooms I've provided your people." Norris waved a hand. "I'll call you when they're done checking for viruses. You're dismissed."

Upon arriving on the Raven, the aliens had been forced to give over their weapons to the humans. Curana had not objected to this, as it was a step above being shot without question.

"Come on, let's go meet with the others." Creed whispered to Curana and Talo.

"We?" Chase spoke. "Lieutenant Creed, you're going with us to our barracks so we can discuss a few things."

"If they don't have an escort that won't shoot them in the back they won't make it to where their fellow crew are being kept." Creed countered.

"I am giving you a direct order Lieutenant." Chase said sternly.

"And if I don't are you going to shoot me or lock me in the brig? Winter Contingency prohibits that, especially concerning a Spartan. Demote me? Can't until we're no longer involved in the defence of Harvest and I don't really give a damn sir. Feel free to go off the record and hit me later, but for now I need to ensure the diplomats don't get harmed." Creed said, restraining his growing anger.

"Creed-" By then Nathan had herded Curana and Talo out into the corridor.

"Thank you Lieutenant." Talo said.

"It's no problem; I just hate it when Chase gets on his damn high horse." Nathan replied. "He might be Omega Company's Commanding Officer but he needs a lesson in humility for once in his life."

"They didn't beat the arrogance out of him during your 'enrolment'?" Curana asked.

Creed looked down at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Before our unfortunate accident we took the liberty of pulling up files on the Spartan Projects." Talo whispered to Creed so the passing humans would not hear the conversation. "ONI needs to upgrade its cyber warfare software, the mainframe on this planet couldn't keep me out unless it had a Smart AI defending its systems."

"You hacked into UNSC data files?"

For most this was reason to shoot the Quarian between the eyes-or however many eyes he had be it on or eight. For Nathan, this was further proof that the covenant wasn't using them as infiltration specialists. If they knew enough about the Spartan Program that meant they had inside knowledge already and the espionage could be skipped in favour of an invasion.

"We were meant to examine both the covenant and the humans Lieutenant, and after what I saw in the files I wasn't exactly impressed with humanity's methods." Curana scowled. "So tell me Nathan, where did they snatch you from?"

Nathan had never spoken about this with anybody since his induction into the Spartan Omega Project. "I...I was on Eden Prime when it happened to me. I was walking home from school...then the next thing I knew somebody tackled me from behind and had me in a van. Then they stuck a needle in me...and I woke up on Reach. For the most part our training took place there.

For a while I tried to escape along with a few others, but...it was rather difficult."

He remembered leaping down from a vent with two other Spartans next to him-he didn't remember their names now. They rushed across the grass only to be brought down by darts from hidden snipers. Chief Mendez and his usual stoic lecture about 'carelessness' and 'dereliction of duty'.

"Soon...I ended up having to help kill humans, one of them was even a Spartan, a second generation who had gone rogue and escaped during a raid on a covenant base on Arcadia." Nathan hesitated. "He had spent most of his life in the program just like me, but he was part of a group trained for Omega Company that was...a concept of forcing young adults into the program at ages eighteen to twenty two...he was taken when he was nineteen and spent so long in it...he pretended to have gone quietly after a while, but then he murdered two third Generation Spartans accompanying him. He had arranged for rebels to pick him up on a hijacked destroyer and escape...I shot him between the eyes and destroyed the ship. He just wanted to be free...I could have easily made it look like he died...but then I remembered Spartans never get that option; we either fight or we die, it's simple as that."

"And that's why I don't like the Spartan Project." Curana narrowed her eyes. "Have you ever thought about running away again?"

"Plenty of times, but if I did that would be another ten thousand human lives lost. If it wasn't for the war, I'd have been the one making a break for it." Creed paused as they reached the door to the barracks the aliens were given. "This is your stop."

"Thank you Lieutenant," Talo said in his usual bland tone before he went inside.

Curana looked up at Creed. His rock hard barriers had crumbled for several moments during his story; he didn't even have his casual wit to cover for him.

Turning away, he mumbled. "Ma'am," And then the Spartan marched off.

Had she just glimpsed the true side of Spartan 092?

Xxx

The _Raven's Wing_ was among the eight Halcyon Class Cruisers brought out of decommissioning after the excellent performance of the UNSC _Pillar OF Autumn_. The upgrades made to Captain Jacob Keyes' ship had been made to these ships, nearly making a few hundred highly valued Navy Intel Officers weep for the UNSC's budget-or more specifically _their_ funding. Only three of the Halcyon cruisers were fully upgraded and in active service, and one of them: the UNSC _Mumbai_ had led a victory against a fleet of thirty covenant ships over the colony of Deus VI, making four total victories for the UNSC in decades of fighting.

The Raven had briefly engaged in several battles, usually picking off Covenant Carriers and Cruisers while the rest of the UNSC fleet would engage the corvettes and frigates. It had destroyed seven covenant ships, something that could not be said for most UNSC ships or even some UNSC MAC Platforms. Over a thousand humans ranging from marines to intelligence officers were preparing to do their part for the growing conflict.

In what had been dubbed Omega Team's meeting room, General Norris addressed five fully equipped Spartans. "Ever since our victory in Sector Four the covenant ships in that area have retreated and haven't made any moves to flee or attack. They're digging in."

A pedestal in the center of the room showed a Sat View of the Covenant Landing Site, revealing five ships; the remnants of the covenant fleet. Four frigates and a Carrier, with Banshees and Seraphs flying patrols to make sure the UNSC didn't make for an invasion.

"They have set up a series of generators further out from their main encampment, they're sending out a signal that jams the targeting systems of anything we fly over that place, be it a stealth ship, or even a missile. They know we have nukes and they're scared." Norris explained. "I've assigned the 4th Battlegroup to watch over them and lay down a few MAC bombardments from time to time to keep them from going anywhere. In the meantime I want you to help me deal with this:" The pedestal moved to New Haven. "Eight covenant ships got through our orbital grid and are carving up New Haven. There were a few Assault Carriers but we managed to take care of them before they moved their ships too close to the city for us to make an effective attack from orbit. We have millions of people in there at the moment and I can't get them out."

Lieutenant Shaw and six ODSTs entered the room. "Sir!" She snapped a salute.

"At ease Lieutenant," Norris nodded to her. "Lieutenant 067, I'm assigning you and Lieutenant Shaw to coordinate with our forces in New Haven to achieve the following objectives."

"First, you are to help the marine forces at New Haven Space Port to clear out covenant Heavy AA turrets that have shot down two transports attempting to get to the evacuation point." A district around the space port was highlighted gold. "Second, I have directed the _Patriot_ to commence an orbital bombardment on one of the Covenant Destroyers hovering over Crystal Bay."

A single Covenant Ship over a body of water at the edge of the city was highlighted red.

"And thirdly, you are to rendezvous with Rear Admiral Patterson at the crash site of the Carrier _Centurion,_ she went down when the covenant took out her engines. Patterson managed to angle her in for a crash landing and damn near crushed half the city trying to do so, but she's intact and most of her crew managed to regroup and set up a defence, but there's a Covenant Frigate hovering rather too close for comfort."

A third area, which had a crashed ship over two miles long and a Covenant Frigate hovering several dozen miles away was highlighted green.

"The _Centurion_ has enough fire power to resupply our boys over at the Space Port and allow them to fight off the covenant forces long enough for us to evacuate over a million civilians being routed to that location. It is the largest evac point in the entire city and we cannot afford to lose it." Norris stood up. "And Lieutenant Creed, I have considered your information and have come to a decision about your alien friends...they shall be accompanying you down, or at least a small team of them."

"General, with respect I don't think that's a good idea." Chase objected.

"If I wanted advice from another Spartan I would have said so, Lieutenant Chase." Norris snapped. "I'm splitting this operation into three teams. Lieutenant Shaw and 4th Platoon shall reinforce the Space Port while Omega Team eliminates the surrounding AA weaponry. But Lieutenant Creed shall be accompanying several of his alien friends to that Destroyer to get it out of my air space."

"We're splitting up the team again?" Smithy asked. "I'm going with Prince this time; I don't trust that bastard not to get his ass fried without me."

"Permission granted." Norris nodded. "After the Transports take off and that Destroyer is eliminated, regroup on the _Legionnaire_, she's back up and will lead an attack on the Covenant Frigate that's hounding Patterson."

"Sir, how am I going to eliminate a Destroyer with one squad?" Nathan asked.

"You won't be doing that Lieutenant, you'll be dropping her shields s owe can blast her from orbit. Crystal Bay was evacuated, and we have pulled our infantry from that area. When we bring that Destroyer down, we intend to make a splash big enough to flood a good portion of the city and wipe out the covenant. I have specifically ordered that no marine remain on ground level any longer than necessary, evacuations to the Space Port and other evac points will be done via Pelican or Falcon." Norris explained. "The evacuation will end in 96 hours, by then if the Covenant have not been eliminated I'm bringing the hammer down on the entire city."

"Four days to evacuate forty six million people sir?" Chase asked, astounded.

"The evacuation was in the process before we had plasma raining down there. We've done a census and before the attacks we had a good seven million out and inbound for the evac point. If we can get one million in the next three hours and clear more of the city out then we could get ten million out by tomorrow." The General showed an image of the Fortress Evac Site. "If we're lucky and hold out a week or two I could have every civilian I can find off of this planet, then we can focus on the covenant."

"In a week or two we'll have used up most of the orbital platforms' ammunition and lost our entire fleet." Chase interjected.

"Leave that to me to worry about. We still have plenty of ships incoming to assist us. Now get moving Omega Team!"

Xxx

**Pelican Flight Oscar Niner**

**On Route to New Haven**

**42****nd**** Hour of Covenant Invasion**

Three Pelicans flew towards the burning city of New Haven, accompanied by three flights of four Falcons and a pair of Albatross Transports.

"This is Romeo Leader to all flights, we are approaching Drop Point Alpha." The leader of one of the squadrons said. "Breaking off to cover insertion of Xeno Team."

Xeno Team was the name of the squadron that would be going after the Destroyer. It was made up of Prince, Smithy, Curana, Maevor, Talo, Doro, Ataca, and Genia. Four marines sat awkwardly at the front of the passenger cabin, where they would remain until the team needed to be withdrawn-most likely while under fire from covenant.

"We're dropping you in the city barely half a click from the coast, make your way to Coastal Base Ark 12 from there, the marines have reinforced the base and have a way to take down the Destroyer's shields." The Pilot of the Pelican carrying Xeno Team said as the drop ship and its four gun ship escorts dropped down towards the coast. "A few units are still retreating to Ark Base, if you meet up with them along the way you'll only have more hands for defending Ark 12."

"Got it, regroup any survivors and proceed to Ark 12." Smithy nodded.

"Here we go...incoming Banshees!" The Pelican fired its chin gun while the four Falcons of Romeo Squad fired their own machine guns and chin guns.

Five Banshees had come out of the clouds and swooped towards the flight. The Falcons engaged them as the Pelican continued on downwards.

"Phantom! Out of my way!" The pilot fired off two rockets that slammed into a Phantom that had gotten in his way. "Boom! Scratch one Phantom!" As the covenant drop ship exploded the Pelican lowered itself into one of the ruined streets of New Haven.

There was a fire fight going on just down the street from where they were. A Warthog had been jammed between a car and a wall and was unable to escape. One marine was mounting the machine gun, firing on the covenant in the street while two more marines were crouched in an alley, firing quick bursts from their weapons.

"Go! Go! Go!" Creed shouted, leaping out and raising his DMR, firing on the Covenant ranks.

Xxx

"Out now! Move it!" Chase barked, leaping from his Pelican along with Twist and Scar along with a squadron of eight marines.

The Pelican had deposited them on the roof of a small hotel, about four stories high and just next door to where a covenant AA cannon was set up to keep the escape ships from departing from New Haven. They heard the sounds of dozens of covenant engaging several warthogs rerouted to distract them to Omega Team could land.

"Sergeant, take your squad and dig in, this is our evac point. I don't want a drop of grunt shit on our Rally Point when I come back." Chase began assigning the marines to different positions.

The Pelican pulled away as the six Warthogs that had strafed the covenant position in a parking lot vanished out of sight down the street. With the attackers gone, the covenant went back to their assigned duties and the cannon began to fire once again. Scar monitored their position from the hotel roof with his rifle.

"Looks like about..." Scar read the amount that his visual scanner was showing him.

His armour came with a scanner that transmitted images of foes to the nearest command post-this one being the Raven in orbit. Once received, the AI present would determine the amount of hostiles based off of covenant deployment formations and send the user an estimate. In this case the AI estimated there were sixty four Grunts, twenty eight Jackals, and eleven Elites or Brutes, perhaps a pair or two of Hunters.

It was the standard compliment for setting up mobile heavy AA turrets consisting of a Grunt Support Company, a Jackal Phalanx Platoon, an Elite Squadron consisting of Squad leaders, platoon leaders ,and the company leader, and finally the heavy support of Hunters. Sometimes Brutes were used, sometimes they weren't.

"Company Sized, Class 3." Scar reported; referring to Class 3 as the amount listed above; again, it was the standard Mobil Heavy AA Gun compliment. "I can't confirm the presence of most of them but based off their deployment patterns it's as good a guess as we'll ever get unless their leader likes making marching drills in the middle of an invasion."

"I highly doubt we'd be that lucky Scar," Chase crossed his arms. "Alright, we'll head in through the alley and set up some trip wires ahead of their patrols, draw some attention to their perimeter while we're already inside. Twist, you handle the explosives while Scar heads for that guard platform and commandeers it." He pointed to one of the platforms suspended by a Gravity Beam used by Jackal Snipers at the northeast corner of the yard. "I'll stand guard for you and then sound the retreat when we're good to go."

The three Spartans leaped down from the roof, fell four stories, and landed in the alley, rolling to their feet. Crossing the street and into the alley that led to the parking lot first, Scar moved to the mouth of the narrow entry route, his rifle raised as he scanned the lot beyond the alley. Signalling for Twist and Chase to moved forward, he hang his rifle on his back in favour of his SMG, which was modified with a suppressor on the tip. "Ready."

"Ok, I'll take point and clean house while you two set up the trip wires." Chase took out his knife and moved out.

Omega Team proceeded to stealthily skirt the edges of the AA site as the cannon fired salvos repeatedly into the air, keeping transports from launching. Chase silently took out Grunts and even a few Elites or Brutes and dragged the bodies out of plain sight so they could be hidden for the few minutes they needed to complete this mission.

Soon, with most of the perimeter wired to blow when the next patrols came through, the Spartans returned to the alley and crouched in the shadows, watching as the first patrol-an elite leading a trio of Jackals and six Grunts began their circuit around the lot...only to trigger a pair of anti infantry mines that took out the elite, the jackals, and four of the grunts. The last two fled back to their Elite commander, who sent out more patrols to search for who was responsible for the traps. As more traps sprang up, the covenant began to man the perimeter of the lot, searching desperately as their foes rushed across the cement to the AA gun's base.

Scar separated from his comrades and went to the small floating platform. Taking the Gravity Lift up, he silenced the two Grunts manning it and took their fuel rod guns. He began to fire on the covenant ranks, blowing several enemies away with each shot. Luckily the grunts were kept well supplied, so he had plenty of fuel rod canisters to reload with as the covenant turned their sights on him.

Twist went to work on the explosives, attaching them to key points on the turret and setting them to detonate on command. Chase watched as Scar repelled a wave of Covenant, reducing their number by nearly twenty before pausing to reload once more. Not one single covenant soldier was paying attention to the Spartans as they set up their cannon to be destroyed.

"Alright, it's set!" Twist stood up ,grabbing his DMR as he and Chase ran back towards the alley. "Scar! Get out of there man!"

"On it!" Scar leaped from the platform and sprinted across the cement to his companions, avoiding plasma fire.

As one, the three began their retreat, firing back at their enemies as they went. Twist was so occupied with reloading his DMR, he hadn't noticed a shimmer behind him, or a yellow dot on his radar that signalled movement until the Elite uncloaked and skewered him on its plasma sword. He cried out, dropping his rifle as his comrades shouted. Chase slammed into the Elite and tackled it to the ground. Scar began to drag Twist, firing his SMG in one hand.

Twist was not moving, his chest cavity entirely ripped open by the plasma sword. As Chase finished off the Elite, the Spartan Pilot's Vitals flat lined.

"No! Shit! TWIST!" Scar shouted, outraged at the death of his long time friend and pilot.

"It's no use, we have to go!" Chase rushed to Scar and turned the dead Twist onto his back. He opened the back of his MJOLNIR armour and set it to self destruct before the remaining Spartans took of, leaving the body of their friend behind to burn.

As they reached the base of the hotel, the squadron on the roof had a good view of the explosion that incinerated Twist's body along with a dozen covenant soldiers. Chase and Scar had only exited the alley when Chase produced the detonator for the explosives. He mumbled quickly. "Thanks Twist." And then he pulled the trigger ,and the Covenant Heavy AA turret exploded in a ball of fire.

"Oh hell yeah! I wish I had a camera for that one!" A marine shouted.

"Call this in, Covenant AA turret Alpha is down, Transports Kilo 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 17, 18, 20, and 25 are clear." The Sergeant said into his radio. "Deploy occupation platoon to Alpha Site and let them dig in, we'll clear up anything left before they get here."

"Sergeant, tell them to send this directly to command." Chase said solemnly into his radio. "Spartan Edward O-077 is MIA."

Nodding in understanding, the Special Forces Operator spoke into his radio to relay this to command: another hero was gone.

Xxx

Curana raised her sniper rifle and fired a single shot that blew an Elite's head open. Chambering a round, she repeated this with a Brute while Maevor rushed along the right side of the street-opposite of the marines with Talo and Doro behind him. Doro raised his pistol and picked off a Grunt and a trio of Jackals with one shot each. Talo paused next to a toppled over plasma turret. "Doro! Help me with this!"

The Batarian and the Quarian managed to place the turret back up as Xeno Squad advanced down the street, covering the marines. The Covenant returned fire, but the combined fire power of the Spartan and Aliens were overwhelming them. Doro fired the plasma turret while Maevor leaped across a car and landed behind a Brute. Taking a leaf out of Creed's book, he jammed his knife into it's throat from behind and tore it out. A split second later a Jackal had an eye popped as the blade of his knife sank into its head and then into its brain.

Jerking the blade back, Maevor rolled to the side as a group of Grunts fired on him. His shields flashing dangerously, he rolled behind the remnants of a Warthog and brought out his assault rifle.

'Damn, that was too close.' He thought.

Even with modern shielding able to protect a user from plasma, it could only take a few shots, and after that the shots could rip through him at their discretion. Luckily Ataca and Curana picked off two of the grunts and made the other two flee in terror, leaving only a pair of Elites firing plasma repeaters at the squad. They were overrun within thirty seconds, and Xeno squadron regrouped.

"Sir! We heard you were coming in!" One marine, an ODST said. "There's an Elephant leading a small convoy of survivors up ahead. We'll get our hog free and move there, but the Captain wants you to cover them from the air!"

"How are we supposed to do that with our drop ship leaving us?" Maevor asked.

Obviously the marines had been informed of their new aliens friends, as they did not react like the other humans had. "He had a pair of Falcons ready to rendezvous with you here."

"There they are!" Ataca pointed up as a pair of Falcons-not of Romeo Squadron came down onto the street.

"Alright, I'll take Curana, Smithy, and Sarius up in them and cover you until you reach the convoy." Creed slid a fresh clip into his rifle and hang it on his back. "Urdnot and Aeso take point, one to each side of the street, we'll smoke out anybody they spot for us."

Creed and Smithy took up the guns of one Falcon while Maevor and Curana took the other. Three marines had climbed out of each Pelican's passenger bay, and two more got off to the gun turrets.

"The Captain assigned us to help make sure your team got there intact." The Squadron's Sergeant nodded, hefting an MA37 rifle.

"Ok, Foxtrot 8 and Foxtrot 11 are airborne." The pilot of Foxtrot 11 said before the two VTOLs ascended into the air and began to hover over the advancing squadrons.

"Alright, advance!" Genia shouted, taking the right side of the street with her sniper rifle while her Krogan counterpart took the left side.

"Ok...I see a blockade up ahead." Creed reported.

"I have them...I see their leader ,a large Elite with black armour." Ataca whispered0or did the Krogan equivalent of a whisper.

"A Spec-Ops Elite...take him down." Creed ordered.

A single shot pierced the silence of the area, and an Elite fell with his head blow open. The two Falcons opened up, the mounted machine guns ripping apart the seven grunts at the blockade easily. The other six Grunts tried to take cover, but several grenades from Foxtrot 8 blew them out of hiding. Six Jackals fired beam rifle up at the Falcons as Xeno and Foxtrot Squad rushed the front lines. Leaping over the barricade, Ataca roared and slammed into an Elite, wrestling it for control of its plasma sword and succeeding. He took the sword and beheaded the Zealot with one single swing.

He examined the blade, and smirked. "A worthy weapon of the Krogan, it is not fit for cowards who slaughter only the weak with their hands and the strong from where they are safest."

Genia slammed the butt of her rifle into the second Elite Zealot and pumped three rounds from her shotgun into the elite. "Hostile down!"

Doro picked off three of the Jackals with his pistol while Talo deployed his combat drone, which disabled the last three Jackals' weapons before he mowed them down with his assault rifle. Wit hthe enemy cleared away, the marines finally joined Xeno Squadron and pushed through the next two barricades with help from the Falcons. Three marines fell, and another two had to remain behind-one took a shot to his chest and the medic volunteered to wait until the fire team from further back came on by with their vehicle to pick them up.

By the time they reached 76th Street, where a massive Elephant Mobile Field Outpost was leading a convoy of APCs, Warthogs, and a trio of Scorpion tanks the teams had used up little ammunition, relying on the Falcons to soften the enemy up for them. Genia was exchanging her only spent clip as several marines welcomed the newcomers and gave them vehicles.

"Alright Spartans, I heard about your objective and you can head on to Ark 12 by air, I'll send the rest of your squad over after we're all done getting these civvies to an evac point." A man in an officer's uniform with a Kevlar vest over it stood on the top of the Elephant, waving one hand up to them while the other held an assault rifle at his side. The man may have been from the navy, but Captain Arnold was no push over, that was for sure. "Give my regards to that destroyer for me."

"You got it sir. Pilot, move us to Ark 12, ASAFP." Creed ordered.

"Aye sir, Ark 12 coming right up!" The two Falcons moved across the city.

"Keep an eye out for Banshees." The Pilot of Foxtrot 8 said...right before a flight of five Banshees came out of the clouds.

"Oh way to go, jinx." Creed cursed under his breath and fired on the Banshees as they began to close in on the two Falcons.

It was a rather short chase before Foxtrot 8 was hit and began to spin out of control.

"May Day! May Day! Foxtrot 8 losing altitude, thrusters are out! I repeat, May-!" The pilot was cut off as the Falcon hit the streets below, sliding and flipping over repeatedly.

"Damn!" Creed and Smithy managed to pour on the fire until two of the Banshees went down. A few bursts from Foxtrot 11's chin gun took down the other three. "Pilot, take us down, prepare for SAR!"

"Aye sir! Going in fast!" The Falcon moved downwards much faster than any sane pilot would have gone, and levelled out as it skimmed the tops of several buildings. Coming to a halt over the crashed Falcon, the pilot spoke over a megaphone. "Foxtrot 8, can you hear me? If there are any survivors, please respond."

After several moments of silence, Creed reached for the top of the compartment and began to unreel a cable. "Maintain altitude and position Lieutenant, I'm heading down for a look."

"Aye-aye." The Pilot expertly kept the craft in position as Creed hooked himself in and lowered the cable down to the ground. He slid down the cable and landed on his feet near the wreckage. Disconnecting from the cable, he took out his DMR and climbed on top of the wreckage, looking into the compartment.

Maevor had managed to grab on to one of the seats and secure himself in a rather odd way by wrapping a safety belt around his arm and bracing himself until the Falcon had ceased moving. Curana however was not in sight. Groaning, the Turian looked up at the Spartan. "A little help?" He held up a hand, and was tugged out of the Falcon.

"Where's Curana?" Creed asked.

"When we were passing over a building I pushed her out...it was a small drop, and I didn't have time to think of a softer landing for her." Maevor grabbed his assault rifle, which was intact. "Right there."

He aimed his rifle at the roof of a two story building. "Let's go ,it's a short walk and we can get to Ark 12 in a few minutes as long as we don't have-"

"Holy shit!" Foxtrot 11 moved to evade a series of plasma shots as a Phantom lurched into view and hovered over Curana's position.

"Damn!" Maevor leaped from the Falcon and began to rush towards the building, followed by Creed.

A Gravity Beam was deployed before they got more than twenty feet. Curana's limp form was slowly lifted from the roof and into the back of the Phantom, out of sight.

"NO!" Maevor emptied his thermal clip into the Drop Ship, but with no effect.

It fired concussion shots to keep the pair of soldiers pinned as it slowly pulled away and vanished from sight over several roof tops to the south...where the Destroyer hang in the sky over the bay. Maevor made to run after it, but Creed placed a hand on his shoulder and tugged him back before two more Phantoms moved into sight, firing shots at them.

"There's no time, we need to move!" The Spartan shouted, tugging the Turian along like a rag doll.

"We can't leave her to their torture!" Maevor snapped, trying futilely to break free from the Spartan's iron grip.

"We can't help her if we're dead. We'll think of something, but until we do you'd better get your scaly ass moving!" Creed shoved him along.

When plasma and Elites began to drop, Maevor gave up argument and sprinted alongside the Spartan to Foxtrot 8. As Creed covered him with shots from his DMR, Maevor pulled the unconscious pilot from his cockpit and began to drag him along to where Foxtrot 11 touched down. Smithy covered them, mowing down elites with her machine gun as Maevor deposited the pilot in the passenger cabin and climbed into one of the seats. Creed sat on the edge of the Cabin and emptied the rest of his magazine into three more Elites.

Foxtrot 11 pulled away from the crash site as over two dozen Elites fired up at it. The pilot set course for base Ark 12. "This isn't good, I'm guessing the blue lady getting kidnapped is bad for us, is it?"

"We need to get her back!" Maevor said.

"And we will...but for now we need to get to Ark 12, we'll figure out a way to rescue her later." Creed assured the Turian.

"Yeah, keep it cool and we'll find your friend." Smithy added, keeping an eye out with the turret.

"We shall," Maevor vowed. "Even if I have to tear that pathetic ship out of the sky with my own two hands."

"Leave a few piece for me." Creed mumbled after turning off his external speakers so the Turian didn't hear him as he sat at the back of the Falcon.

End of chapter


	8. Chapter 8

Mass Effect Wars

I am wondering how this story should conclude. Should it be tragic? Partial tragic? Should every main character survive? Should most or all of them die?

Oh, and one more thing...certain events from Halo 2 will have never happened.

I own nothing.

Enjoy this chapter!

Xxx

Chapter Eight

**Stronghold**

**New Haven City**

**New Haven Space Port**

**44****th**** Hour of Covenant Invasion**

Lieutenant Shaw fired her shotgun into the wounded Elite and looked to the remaining marines who had defended a tunnel where most of the vehicles from Captain Arnold's convoy had taken refuge while Arnold led the Scorpion tanks and several more Warthogs and APCs around a separate direction. Out of the seventeen soldiers who had taken a stand at the entrance, eight remained. Shaw looked into the tunnel and signalled for the convoy to move out. They shot out of the tunnel and down the street to the barricade where they let out civilians and more marines to reinforce the defence. As the humans fled into the space port, Shaw slid fresh shells into her shotgun.

"Alright, get ready for the next wave." She ordered. "Do we have any more news of the AA network?"

"Omega Team took down the Alpha Site Turret, and marines have occupied the area to prevent it from being captured again." The newly promoted Captain Archer of the UNSC _Legionnaire_ replied as the frigate moved with several others towards New Haven. "Other teams managed to take down three more, it looks like we have sixty percent air superiority over the covenant now, they're pulling most of their troops back towards that Destroyer."

"Any chance of taking it out?" Shaw asked.

"Negative, if we try they might get desperate enough to try going to slip space in the middle of the city. We need to hit them before they can do that, meaning we need to keep them pinned until the _Patriot_ can get a clean shot and gut them before they can do a thing to try escaping." Archer paused. "And...There's been a slight...change to this plan. The covenant has a prisoner, high profile, and this has caused some problems considering Spartan 092 is refusing to proceed with the destruction of the Destroyer until this prisoner is retrieved."

"Oh for the love of crap, is it his blue skinned bitch of a girl friend?" Shaw asked.

"Right on the spot Lieutenant, and he's adding hostage retrieval to this mission." Archer said. "As Lania Curana is vital to any relations between us and her governments, General Norris has approved of her retrieval before the Destroyer is eliminated."

"Are you kidding me? That thing will crush this whole city if we don't do something about it." Shaw said. "And we have a frigate closing in on Patterson, he won't like waiting for too long."

"We factored that into the situation...and we might just have a way to get rid of both of them at once." Archer said. "You have orders to head to the _Centurion_ crash site and rendezvous with Patterson."

Xxx

**Ark 12 Naval Base**

**New Haven City**

"The Centurion's crew has rigged their archer missile pods to fire off a few salvos at the Frigate and distract it." The AI Avatar pointed out the frigate as it hovered closer to the crasher carrier. "Once the frigate turns to fire, our six available frigates will herd it towards the Destroyer. During this time, Omega Team shall board the Destroyer via the Phantoms that switch the shifts being made at several of their AA sites around Crystal Bay. It will be impossible to hijack the entire ship itself, judging from deployment and redeployment patterns they have it stuffed with twice the recommended amount of soldiers for something that big. Instead you only need to secure their weapons control center and direct their main guns for a timed fire on the Covenant Frigate using a program uploaded from Stronghold High Command. We'll give some ground so they don't make a desperate escape and just set up a perimeter until we have them both down for the count."

"Ok...so we take them down with their own guns...and then what?" Ataca asked.

"You will not remain on board the destroyer by the time it has fired. By then you will have escaped by disabling their shields. This will be done by focusing the main guns for a secondary shot without retracting the shield for a salvo, this action is included in the program provided to initiate ten minutes after the first salvo. It will disable the shields long enough for the _Patriot_ to bombard the enemy ship." The AI, Silvia stated. "Hopefully by then you will be long gone via escape pods, shuttle, or however you choose to be far from that Destroyer when it is destroyed."

"We had our infantry attack their front lines, just tease and taunt them for a bit." Major Blake, an ODST who had been leading fights out in the city said his image broad casted to them next to Silvia by a projector on his end said. "We also watched their shuttle runs. They tend to change timing randomly, but we found a pattern. The next change will take place in seventeen minutes if we are correct."

"We shall split you into three separate teams for this operation." General Norris, who was also broadcasted via a holographic projector stated. "Lieutenant 067, you will lead Team Alpha and take weapon's control. Lieutenant 092, you will lead Bravo Team to retrieve Spectre Curana during this op. Lieutenant Shaw shall lead Charlie Team to secure transport off of the destroyer."

"If this can be done within twenty minutes of boarding the vessel, there is a great chance that this shall work." Silvia noted. "But be sure to get something fast."

"Noted," Chase replied. "We're ready to deploy General."

"You'll be deploying five minutes ago, High Command out." General Norris vanished from view.

Xxx

A single Pelican carried Maevor, Genia, Doro, Talo, Ataca, Chase, Smithy, Scar, Prince and a trio of ODSTs while another carried Shaw and eleven Hell Jumpers of her own to a separate location in Crystal Bay. As the two Pelicans broke away from each other after launching from the _Legionnaire, _Admiral Patterson spoke over the radio_. _"_Centurion_ here, we are preparing to initiate Phase One."

"Alpha Leader, ready." Chase replied.

"Bravo Leader, ready." Nathan confirmed.

"Charlie Leader, ready." Shaw added.

"Launching missile salvo." Miles away, the crashed Carrier let loose a horde of Archer missiles against the nearby Covenant Frigate, making it divert from its course to deal with the carrier. But as it began to bring its main gun to bear, six frigates descended on it in a half circle, firing their archer missiles and a MAC shot or two. Understanding it was outmatched, the frigate retreated towards the Destroyer over Crystal Bay for assistance from the larger vessel.

"Foxtrot is moving to Delta, repeat Foxtrot is moving to Delta." Patterson said. "Initiate Phase Two and make it quick!"

By then the Pelicans had deposited their teams at separate locations on the coast and had retreated to a safe distance.

"Alright, the Phantom is landing." Chase said as he pointed towards a Drop Ship which would set down in a plaza near the beach.

The teams from the first Pelican had been deposited right on the beach barely a hundred meters from the AA site. The pilot had flown low, almost skimming the water as he went. The Phantom had gone past the site by a mile and had circled around from the north to avoid UNSC patrols.

"All of our infantry have pulled back and the covenant are deploying combat platoons to the streets to dig in." Admiral Patterson said. "I'd suggest you make this fast Spartans."

"We will sir." Creed replied as they proceeded through the streets.

"Wait, phantom! Cover!" Chase ordered.

The dozen fighters took cover as a Phantom flew by. After several moments they proceeded up the street and flooded into an alley. At the end of it was the plaza where a dozen covenant Jackals were unloaded off of a Phantom from overhead as another dozen jackals moved towards the drop ship's gravity beam.

"I have a plan to get somebody on board..." Creed looked to the aliens. "You said Biotics can lift people or objects, right? How heavy can the object be?"

Genia gave him the turian version of a grin. "Just sit still and let me do my part of the job."

Xxx

**Covenant Destroyer **_**Infinite Perseverance**_

Curana awoke to the sight of a Covenant Medical Drone floating over her, checking her vitals before it hovered back so a Brute could move into view, glaring down at her. She was strapped down to a chair and stripped to all but the soft suit that was kept under her armoured plates. She squeezed her eyes shut and counted to ten before opening them.

"It is awake, hierarch." The Brute looked off to something out of Curana's view. The Asari tilted her head so she could see a Prophet sitting in his floating chair, extending his head to look over Curana's body.

"There are rather obvious similarities to the humans, but we have concluded that there is very little in way of relation between the two species, no more than it would be related to one of our member races." An Elite clad in silver armour joined the Brute. "Whatever this is, it is not human, nor is it one of their creations."

"A new species perhaps? One that has shown just how foolish it is by allying itself with the vermin who disgrace the existence of this entire galaxy." The Prophet hissed with disgust. "Creature, I am the Prophet of Restitution, and you," His eyes narrowed. "Have much to answer for, and may the gods have mercy on you and your kin when we reduce your world to a ball of glass and leave what is left of you to rot with these heretics."

Curana just knew they would get along so well.

And yes, sarcasm really is universal, go figure.

Xxx

"On my mark." Chase whispered, peering through the scope of his DMR, aiming at the squadron of Jackals as their commanding officers began to converse. They ordered their squadrons to their positions or into the Phantom. "Mark!"

Creed fired first, blowing open two Jackals with one shot from his sniper rifle. He leaped over the car he had hidden behind, rolled as he hit the ground-dropping his sniper rifle as he came up and rushed forward. "Now Aeso!"

Genia glowed as she accessed her Biotic power and sent Creed flying up into the air. As she released her hold on him, he flipped over in mid air and landed right on top of the Phantom. Digging in with the magnetic grips of his gauntlets, he held on as the Phantom began to ascend for a better firing angle against the attackers. Making his way to the side of it, he gripped the edges and swung himself down. He slammed his feet into the face of the Brute manning the side turret, crushing its face under his feet and sending it flying into the passenger cabin.

Releasing the ledge, Nathan flew into the cabin and slid halfway to the second Brute gunner, who turned and snarled, reaching for his Spiker. But Nathan grabbed the two pistols he had strapped to his thighs and emptied six shots from each into the Brute, knocking it off of the side of the transport. Getting up, Nathan saw only a startled Jackal at the cockpit entrance. Putting it down with one shot to the head, he moved into the cockpit and attacked as the Elite pilot began to turn. Grabbing its head, he prepared to snap its neck, but it struggled and sent them both tumbling into the cockpit. The transport began to lean to one side without a pilot.

With Nathan mounting it, the Elite stood and slammed the Spartan into a wall of the cabin and then sent the stunned Lieutenant tumbling across the floor. It pulled out a plasma rifle and leaped at Creed. It landed over him and aimed its rifle, but Creed knocked it aside and kicked the Elite in the stomach. Rolling backwards over the slanting floor, Creed found some footing and tore his knife and sheath away from their position on his shoulder. Flicking the weapon, he sent the sheath off of it and tumbling out the side of the cabin and to the ground hundreds of feet below.

The Elite growled and fired its plasma rifle. Several shots splashed off of Nathan's shields before he reached it and jammed the blade into the Elite below its breast plate. The Elite slammed one fist down on his arm, and the blade snapped. Nathan slapped both hands onto the sides of the Elite's head and tore its helmet off. He took advantage of the momentary confusion from the loss of its helmet to strike the elite with an uppercut using its very helmet as a make shift metal knuckle. It recovered and caught his next attack and head butted him.

By now the Phantom began to tilt so much it was almost off its axis by 90 degrees, the open right side of the Phantom allowing Creed to see the fire fight below. From his height it was almost impossible to notice the flash of gun fire or the explosions. Gripping the floor with one magnetic gauntlet, Creed looked to the Elite as it struggled to maintain a hold on a hand grip built into a wall. "I'm pretty sure this thing isn't supposed to fly like this!"

It merely roared in reply and angled its plasma rifle at him again, but he grabbed his second pistol from his thigh and emptied the magazine into the Elite, knocking the plasma rifle from its hand with one lucky shot. It began to make its way along the wall towards him. Now the Phantom really was on a 90 degree angle from the ground and Creed was beginning to slip. If it performed a 180 degree flip then his magnetic grip would not hold him up, it could only hold so much weight.

As he began to slide down the floor, he managed to angle his slide so he hit the wall next to the open hatch. He hit the controls and made the hatch close, making a makeshift floor. He just barely managed to slide a clip into his pistol before the Elite leaped down and delivered an uppercut that made his shields flash and sent him on to the closed doors. When Creed looked up, he could have sworn it was grinning when it crouched and hit the controls and began to open the hatch again.

Luckily it had multiple hand holds in it, which Creed grabbed with one hand before he half tumbled out of the Phantom. He aimed his pistol up at the Elite and fired all twelve shots. The eighth shot took out its shield, the ninth missed, and the tenth went right through its chest. The tenth bullet went right through its head, and it went limp, tumbling past him and falling towards the earth below. Creed hauled himself inside and hit the controls, almost breaking the panel as he forced the hatch shut once again.

Sirens began to wail as the Drop Ship began to lose control and enter the descent of its arch towards the ground. Creed managed to head to the cockpit and take control, easing the Phantom out of its descent and steadying it. He made for the fire fight between his team and the Jackals and hovered over the plaza, raining down fire on the Jackal Squadrons.

The humans and Citadel Troops advanced, and soon the last Jackal fell as Talo snapped its neck from behind. The teams gathered in the center of the plaza a Creed manoeuvred the Phantom over them.

"Good work Prince, now let's go save your lady." Chase said over the radio.

Activating the Gravity Beam, Nathan sighed. "She is not my girl friend damn it, I've barely known her a day man."

"And you trusted her after barely an hour," Chase replied as he was deposited on the floor of the Troop Cabin.

"Touché," Creed whispered after turning his radio off. With Bravo and Alpha aboard, Creed turned the Phantom towards the Covenant Destroyer.

Doro joined him in the cockpit. "I'll take it from here."

Creed nodded and got out of the pilot's seat, handing the controls to the Batarian. He went back into the troop cabin where Ataca was examining a covenant rifle, Genia and Maevor were examining a rack of plasma grenades that were magnetically locked to a wall, Talo was speaking with the three ODST, and the Spartans of Omega Team were staring at Creed.

He'd never felt more out of place since Spartans were considered heroes to the Public when he saw through their visors and determining the expressions underneath.

He was just as much an alien as Curana, Maevor, or even a Covenant Prophet.

Xxx

Curana collapsed to the floor of her cell, clenching her teeth and bringing herself up to sit against the wall. Under her suit, she had a collection of bruises, burns, and cuts made by the Brute interrogation specialist. She hadn't uttered a single word to them except curses in her native tongue.

"So, this is the mysterious alien that the guards spoke of?" Curana's head snapped up to look at the far corner of the cell, where a figure was hunched over.

The Elite stood to its full height. It wore no armour, only a soft suit that all Elites wore under their armour. It was practically indiscernible from the colour of its flesh, but was just like the soft suit Curana and any decent fighter from Citadel Space wore under their own armour. One of its mandibles were missing, and one of its eyes were covered by a strip of medical of covenant issue medical strips used for covering wounds.

Its suit was torn in several places, revealing wounds that made hers look like bruises you get on a play ground. It looked powerful enough to arm wrestle a Brute or rip a Krogan in half. It looked down at her. "So then, what is your name, alien?"

"My-my name...Lania, Lania Curana," Curana shook off her shock. "Why are you locked up in here?"

"Failure, betrayal, heresy, and most recently for being discovered only hours ago," The Elite ran one hand over its covered right eye. "This is only the most recent of wounds I have endured at the order of the High Prophets of Truth, Mercy, and Regret."

The three ruling members of the Covenant! They ruled from some unknown location, a city known as High Charity. Even the best hacking attempts could not locate the planet that this city rested on.

"I once served as their greatest Admiral, it was I who led their fleets through the stars and cut down the humans. " The Elite said. "My name is Divard'Fersa."

"Wait...traitor? Your entire species seems loyal to the Prophets." Curana slowly got to her feet, wincing.

"Those of my race who serve the Prophets are blinded to what the hierarchs truly have intended for this galaxy." Fersa said. "When I discovered the truth, I and those loyal to me rebelled against the Prophets. We attempted to head to the humans so we could join them, taking my flagship the _Ascendant Justice_, but we were betrayed and my followers executed. I was kept alive to be made an example of and for the knowledge I possessed, which the High Prophets require." He shook his head. "I am only satisfied that my ship was later destroyed in the process of eliminating the Unyielding Hierophant along with over two Fleets of War belonging to the Prophets' Zealots."

He sat down, leaning against the wall behind him. "I escaped, and sewed the seeds of dissent among the Covenant. Outside this ship, outside this system thousands of my loyal soldiers await news of my status. I had infiltrated this fleet with the intent of sabotaging the invasion of the human world."

"And you were discovered in the process and imprisoned here." Curana concluded his story.

"That is true, and the prophets still wished for my knowledge of the Fore Runner temples." Fersa stood up again, for a moment Curana could imagine the Elite being clad in the armour of a Fleet Master and commanding fleets to burn planets. "But I have not uttered a word of it to any soul ever since I discovered the terrifying truth that had befallen our so called gods and what the Hierarchs would allow all sentient life to experience." The Elite growled. "But tell me, Lania Curana, what are you?"

"I am an Asari, part of the Citadel Alliance." Curana paused. "I can't tell you anything too important, but I came here to observe the conflict. My leaders have noticed this war between your people and the humans and wish to intervene in the foreseeable future." Adding a quick lie in, she continued. "But they didn't make any promises, so I doubt they will follow up on it."

Fersa huffed. "Intervention, I doubt any intervention would dissuade the Covenant. They are determined to butcher every human right down to their children."

"But why? What have the humans done to offend them so much?" Curana asked.

Fersa's one eye narrowed and his mandibles twitched. "What do you know of the religion that the Covenant follows so loyally?"

Thinking back to the data she had, Curana replied. "They worship a race of highly advanced beings from whom their technology is based off of who supposedly vanished from the galaxy a long time ago."

"One hundred thousand years is the closest we have managed to estimate." Fersa chuckled. "Now tell me this. Why would the Prophets almost immediately condemn a species to be heretics and declare genocide upon them? What would anger them...or scare them enough to jump into action like this? What could possibly threaten the power that the Prophets hold over the Covenant so long as they bow to a long dead race?" He leaned in. "The very race that they worship."

"What?" Curana's eyes widened. "Wait...do you mean...? By the goddess...the humans..."

"Yes, Lania Curana," Fersa stood up. "The humans are the children of our so called gods, their genetic descendants and their only remnants of a vast galactic empire that ended a hundred millennia ago." He spread his arms. "This ship? The technology? It pales in comparison to the might of what the humans possessed so long ago when they were known as the Forerunner empire." He let his arms go limp. "But this made the Prophets fear them, because if the truth were to be discovered, the humans would command the Covenant's loyalty, not the Prophets. Power, that is what has started this war, and that is why the war continues. To continue domination over the covenant, the Prophets shall destroy the very gods that they worship so much, all in the guise of a holy crusade."

The doors hissed open. "Silence you blasphemer!" A brute rushed in and slammed a fist into the side of what was left of Fersa's jaws. The Elite flew into a wall and slid down.

At that moment, Curana's Biotics flared to life as two Brute guards and a trio of Grunts watched from outside.

Xxx

"This is Charlie Team, we lost two men but we're on route to the Destroyer." Shaw said from the Phantom she and her team had hijacked.

"We have our ride in. Get us another one out, preferably closer to Weapons' Control." Chase said. "I won't be able to waste time running around a two mile long ship to try and reach where ever Silvia is taking us."

"I am following the preset course in the Navigation Data of these Phantoms Lieutenant, they will land you rather far apart from one another but you will be close to Weapons' Control and a reasonable distance from the Detention Area." Silvia said as her image appeared in Chase's Visor. "I will mark the proper directions for both teams to take once we have landed...and hopefully you will still be alive by that time."

"Well, I think I know just the thing for a situation like this," Chase looked to Smithy. "You still have it?"

She nodded. "It's making it hard for me to run and shoot, just take it." She gestured to a large contained hung on her back.

"What is it?" Maevor asked as he helped Scar remove the pack from Smithy.

"The W/AV M6 G/GNR," Scar said. "weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle...or as we prefer it the Spartan Laser, a Mk II variant to be precise." He hefted a rocket launcher sized weapon.

"Laser, you use infantry based laser weaponry?" Genia asked. "That is decades or centuries ahead of what the Citadel can do."

"Well, we've been using them for a while." Scar passed the Spartan Laser to Nathan. "Here, you need a bigger weapon anyways."

The Spartan Laser MkII had only recently been developed for the use of carrying energy cells to recharge the laser while in the field. The MkI could fire five shots ,and afterwards would be useless, so the UNSC began to develop a newer one for infantry operations. Though the shot was slightly weaker, it could fire a dozen times before running dry, and then Creed was able to carry two more energy cells to recharge it with.

"Alright, I'll put it to good use." Creed hang the weapon on his back and took a Covenant Plasma Carbine and several plasma cells for it. "ETA to landing?"

"Several minutes...four at the most." Silvia replied. "I'd suggest you prepare, the hangar may have a lot of company in it."

"Alright, Alpha moves first, then Bravo follows up; we'll get into the corridors and split up for our targets." Chase commanded. "Maintain radio silence with other teams, we need to just get our objectives and rendezvous with Charlie Team."

"We'll let you know when we have a more convenient ride for you Spartan." Shaw said.

"I'll cover Alpha's advance with the main gun, get somebody on the side guns and we'll hold off any guards until it's our turn to head out." Doro added.

The two Phantoms approached the Destroyer from different directions, going unnoticed by patrol flights. From miles away, hundreds of humans waited in silence to see if the plan would succeed. In orbit, as UNSC and Covenant ships traded fire General Norris coolly manoeuvred the _Raven's Wing_ into position and fired its MAC cannon, ripping apart a Covenant Frigate and weakening a Carrier's shields with three rounds. In the skies of Stronghold, hundreds of human pilots worked to escape or fight Covenant fighters and ships.

The Phantom containing Alpha and Bravo teams slowly settled into Hangar 4 after transmitting proper access codes. Covenant Technicians floated up above while several grunts were working on securing a Wraith under a second Phantom in the hangar, supervised by an Elite in blue armour.

"On my mark," Chase held up four fingers.

Creed and Talo prepared to take control of the side guns while Doro had his hands on the main gun controls. A pair of Elites approached where the Phantom was docked, and looked expectantly at the Drop Ship. They were meant to go inside, perhaps for technical repairs or to speak with the pilot or take over, whatever the reason they lost their patience when they found the doors were not already opened.

Chase curled all of his fingers and his thumb into an 'O' shape. "Mark!"

Talo took control of the side gun facing the Elites and fired. With their shields down, the Elites were torn apart by a salvo of plasma fire while Creed ripped apart the third Elite in the hangar with his own spray of plasma. The grunts began to scatter as a side hatch opened and Alpha team leaped down. Chase and his three marines landed first, followed by Scar and Smithy as they laid down suppressing fire on the Grunts from across the hangar.

When the gun fire died down and the last grunt fell, Chase shouted. "Alright, everybody out! Let's go!"

Doro left a grenade in the cockpit before following Bravo Team down the Gravity Lift and onto the hangar floor. "I'd suggest we get out of this hangar, and fast." The Batarian grinned. "It's about to suffer a technical error, specifically a fuel explosion."

"I like your way of thinking," Chase nodded. "Move it!"

They left the hangar and sealed the doors behind them. There were no guards in the hall ways beyond. They distanced themselves from the hangar a bit before Doro triggered the grenade.

Alarms began to wail as Hangar 4 was changed into a crate in the side of the Covenant Destroyer. A similar explosion occurred in Hangar 13 after Charlie Team had secured the hangar and vacated it.

All at once, hundreds of humans began to cheer as they realized both teams were on board and alive.

"Sir, registering two explosions from Covenant Destroyer! I think Lieutenant 067 and his teams can be thanked for that!" Patterson shouted into his radio.

"Alright everybody, let's do our parts and make sure this goes off without a hitch!" Norris chuckled. "Continue evacuations and eliminate any other covenant craft above the city, if I'm right there are only a few corvettes left now."

"Aye sir!"

Xxx

In the crashed Carrier _Centurion_, Admiral Patterson stood in what was left of the command deck, typing in a code.

"Sir, Osprey Anti Ship Missiles are prepared to launch!" A naval officer reported from what was left of a console. "Locking onto those two corvettes heading for us!"

"Long Sword Squadrons, deploy heavy anti ship shells and take out those shields, I need a clean shot." Patterson said into the radio.

"Aye sir! Long Sword Squadron Echo 6-3 moving!" A pilot shouted.

"Echo 8-7, we're making a bombing run on Covenant Corvette!" Another pilot added as several Longsword squadrons in the area began to change their routes.

"Oscar 4-3, redirecting to enemy vessel and we have a full pay load!" In total, ten Longsword Squadrons-totalling up to just under sixty fighters were focusing on the two Corvettes. They began to launch missiles and drop shells on the shields. The Covenant AA turrets tries to lock onto the Longswords, but barely got one or two for every two or three bombing runs made by the fighters.

The sheer power of the combined attacks weakened the shields of the two small corvettes greatly. When they were only three miles from the crashed Carrier and began to charge their main guns, their shields vanished after enduring ten minutes of continuous fire. As the Longswords began to tear into their hulls, the _Centurion_ fired.

"_Centurion_, Fox 1!" An officer shouted before the entire ship was shaken. A single missile flew away from the Carrier and shot across the short distance to the Corvettes. Striking one, it tore the ship in half before the power core exploded and reduced it to a ball of fire.

"_Centurion,_ Fox 2!" The officer couldn't help but grin as the next missile shot away and struck the second corvette amidships like the last one did. The Longswords had pulled back by now and watched as the corvette exploded.

All over the city, UNSC forces began to push back covenant invaders. Civilian Transports began to take off, and most of the remaining covenant ships were destroyed either by long range missile attacks from the _Centurion _combined with Longsword or Frigate supported air attacks; or from several orbital bombardments. With the covenant moving away from UNSC occupied sections of the city ,some Covenant Ship Masters had forgotten entirely about the ships in orbit locking on for MAC bombardments.

Only several pockets of Covenant Forces remained, and most were falling back to areas around Crystal Bay and the Covenant Destroyer. The UNSC forces and ships kept their distance from the area.

Xxx

But onboard the Destroyer, the Prophet of Restitution was growing fearful as he realized that the humans had them boxed in. He faced the ship master. "Ship master, the humans have reclaimed this city, we must leave now!"

"My orders are to remain here, hierarch, and they come from the High Prophet of Regret himself." The Elite shipmaster replied, hiding a scowl. "Nothing you can say or do can move this ship from this position even if I wished to do so."

"Heretic! Traitor! We shall all die!" The Prophet shouted.

"Is that not what we wish for? Our freedom from this miserable material reality, hierarch?" The Ship Master asked coolly. "Then if we must transcend the physical through trial by fire then let us do so."

Leaving the Prophet to scream and curse, the Ship Master left the main section of the Bridge and went to the CIC. Dismissing all but one Elite operator, he opened a channel and bowed his head. "Noble Hierarchs, I bring news from the human fortress planet known as Stronghold."

"Ship Master Cermora'Fasen," The High Prophet of Truth said. "I trust that your mission goes well?"

"We have maintained the guise of an invasion fleet well enough, but the humans are closing in. My soldiers have gone deep into the waters below and retrieved the artefact that you have requested. I have had it transferred to a stealth corvette and set it on course for the Passage Construct. It will be safe there until we eliminate the human resistance on this planet and burn it to glass and sand." Cermora'Fasen replied. "And I have captured the traitor known as Divard'Fersa, he attempted to sabotage our invasion plans, but was captured. He still refuses to divulge the information on the holy artefact that lays hidden beneath the surface of this planet. If I cannot learn anything from him by the time we locate it, I shall have him executed with your permission."

"You may do so, after the relic is recovered." The High Prophet of Mercy said.

"I have also captured one of the aliens who have sided with the humans, she possesses a powerful will for one so physically fragile." Cermora added. "We shall send her to our capital ship in orbit so she may be transferred to High Charity. I entrust her to your judgment."

"Very good Ship Master," The Prophet of Regret nodded. It was he who had assigned Cermora to this private mission on Stronghold, personally selecting him. "But the transfer shall not be necessary, we shall be moving our city to this world so we may witness the discovery of the sacred relic."

"You shall bring High Charity here? Hundreds of human ships still control the planet, it would not be safe for you!" Cermora protested. "Forgive my insolence hierarchs but I beg of you not to b present until after this planet is secure. I only ask you as your humble and willing servant."

The High Prophet of Truth raised one hand to silence him. "It is understandable that you are concerned for our well being, but do not fear ship Master, we shall not be there until long after the invasion has crippled the humans' vessels."

"It shall be done as quickly as possible." Cermora bowed his head. "I shall not fail you Noble Hierarchs."

"We trust that you shall not, because unlike your predecessor...you are trustworthy of this task." Truth smiled. "Now go, and let our will be done."

The three Prophets vanished from view, and Cermora slowly turned before a lesser Elite rushed into the CIC.

"Ship Master, humans and their xeno comrades have boarded us! They were responsible for the destruction of two of our hangars and are fighting their way through our ship as we speak!" The Elite exclaimed.

"Deploy security teams, set up blockades around essential systems." Cermora ordered. "And bring me my weapons."

Several minutes later, accompanied by seven Elites and armed with a pair of Plasma rifles, a plasma carbine ,and a plasma sword Cermora left the Bridge.

"So long as I draw breath, I shall make sure every human and their despicable allies aboard this ship are exterminated. This is your duty to our Covenant!" He yelled to his troops, who roared in reply.

Xxx

Fersa looked at the black armour had had taken from one of the dead guards. "It feels like so long ago that I wore this. As soon as we no longer require it I shall dispose of it."

"Your choice," Lania Curana said as she zipped her soft suit back up after Fersa finished applying a medical paste to her wounds. "So what's our next move?"

Fersa left her where she sat outside her cell and moved to the Detention Area's Control Console. He accessed Security and viewed several fire fights. "It appears help is on the way. I see at least two or three teams of humans and your fellow comrades." He then looked a ta screen showing the monitor outside the door. "But it looks like it would be a bad idea to try leaving at the moment."

"Why is that?" Curana asked as she joined him.

The screen showed an entire platoon of Covenant Elites setting up barricades outside of the Detention Area. "Luckily with the lock down that your people triggered during our fight these zealots cannot enter. The door may only be opened from within. Though I suggest we wait until your allies arrive, as they distract the guards we may attack from behind."

"We'll still need something big to fight our way out." Curana said, picking up a Jackal's Shield Emitter and a plasma carbine.

Fersa chuckled. "IF there is one thing that these zealots are good at, it's stocking up on armaments. Come with me, there is an arms locker nearby we can use."

"Just try to keep up, you don't look like you'd last long in a fight." Curana replied as they rushed down the Detention Corridor.

"Trust me little one, I have fought under worse conditions." The massive Elite once again possessed the power of one who commanded rather than the weak prisoner he had been reduced to by the interrogation and mutilation he had endured.

And so the plan was made.

Xxx

End of Chapter


	9. Chapter 9

Mass Effect Wars

Hm…I realize I forgot to delete the message about Halo 2 from the last chapter. Here's my explanation: I had originally planned to have the Arbiter make an appearance in this, but felt it would be too complicated to change the time line of Halo entirely, so instead I chose to step past that, I guess I forgot to delete the warning message. My fault.

I own nothing…except Nathan Creed….and Omega Team….and Curana…Maevor, Talo, Doro, Ataca, Genia, Shaw…except for all of those I own nothing.

Oh, and one more thing...I only realized just now The Executor's name has two l's in it, not one. (Pallin, not Palin). And I once again made a few mistakes with some facts...but does anybody here actually care? (My Minion raises his hand) Ok, does anybody who I actually care to take opinions from care? (Minion raises his hand again) It's settled, I will not give a damn about it.

Enjoy!

Xxx

Chapter Nine

**Covenant Supply Depot**

**Planet Astuce, Stronghold System**

**45****th**** hour of covenant invasion of Stronghold**

Garrus watched the outpost through the scope of his sniper rifle. "Two Phantom Drop ships at the north east corner, a Spirit Drop ship taking out a deployment for the observation post the drones spotted to the north….." He peered in on the command hub. "It looks like the Command Center is heavily fortified….." He looked to his squadron.

"So, this is the covenant that has the council wetting their expensive robes." A Quarian, who had been identified by Tali'Zorrah as Prazza chuckled, crouching next to Garrus.

Garrus had been chosen to lead an advanced attack on the covenant and establish a foothold for the Citadel Fleet. There were over a hundred covenant ships in the system at the moment, and just under two hundred human ships with more arriving every several hours. Pallin had dispatched a stealth frigate to monitor the fight until the main fleet was able to get close enough. Despite many advancements in the past decades anything above a frigate class vessel did not have an FTL drive that had the convenience of passing from system to system in a few hours, so the main fleet would take several days to arrive.

Until then, six or seven other frigates would establish a foot hold and prepare for the fleet's arrival. Five of those frigates were in orbit, hidden by their stealth systems while the other two had landed near the outpost. Garrus was leading a squadron of thirteen soldiers while Tali'Zorrah would lead another squadron from the far side of the depot. Apparently she and Garrus along with several other individuals had been highlighted and transferred to Pallin's 'Specialists', which meant they would be leading covert attack squadrons.

"Tali'Zorrah, is your team in position?" Garrus asked through his radio, bringing his eye away from his sniper rifle's scope for a moment.

"Yes, I'm prepared to initiate the attack on your command." Tali'Zorrah replied.

"Alright, target those Phantoms, I'll take control of the AA guns and turn them on that Spirit if it comes back." Garrus faced his squadron again. "Prazza, take Fire Team C and secure the vehicle station. The rest of you form up into your teams and prepare to advance. We'll let our Gun Ship blow away the infantry and the perimeter and then advance, each team maintains ten yards from each other."

"We're ready." Tali whispered through the radio link.

"Alright...Hunter 2-8, move in for your run." Garrus announced.

Moments later a Turian Gunship, deployed from the frigate _Envahision_ roared into view. The patrolling covenant teams looked up, confused one moment and fearful the next as the Predator gunship fired its chin gun down and first struck the only active Wraith tank, destroying it easily. Next it fired its missiles and took down the perimeter wall of the outpost on the east and west side.

The Covenant began to mobilize and fired AA Shade turrets up at the Predator as it pulled away. Both squadrons leaped from cover and quickly rushed down their respective slopes towards the outpost. Tali's heavy weapon specialists fired five rockets each-each of them possessed a full twenty rockets. The rockets hit the Phantoms and blew away their engines. Both drop ships exploded, taking out the surrounding ground crews and causing the fuel tanks to explode.

As Garrus managed to get through the breach in the wall, he raised his sniper rifle and fired once, taking out a Jackal standing on top of one of the buildings wielding a carbine. He chambered a new round and locked in on a grunt who was charging with a plasma grenade in each hand. Shooting the grunt in the head, the two plasma grenades fell and took out a Jackal and two more Grunts. Chambering a third round, he searched for a new target.

When a beam blew open a Salarian's head, Garrus was tugged behind a crate before a second beam almost took him out. He looked down to see another Salarian in what looked like a lab coat mixed with some body armour carrying a machine pistol. The Salarian was heavily scarred and obviously on the wrong side of thirty five.

"Sniper, thirty feet high, distance...rounded to four hundred meters." The Salarian said quickly. "Wait until signal." It held up its hand.

After the beam rifle fired several more times and failed to pick off members of Garrus' squadron, who had taken cover the Salarian shouted. "Now!"

Garrus spun from cover, bringing his rifle up and locking onto a Jackal in a guard tower. He fired and blew a hole in its chest. Chambering a round, he focused on one of the other two snipers on the tower-who were focusing on Tali's squad. He fired once after lining them both up, and blew a hole through the side of one Jackal's rib cage and entirely decapitated the other one.

"Snipers are down, advance!" Garrus called, and looked at the Salarian. "Thanks."

"No problem, doing job only, used to dealing with snipers, very annoying." The Salarian said. "No offense intended, snipers ruin someone's day somewhere."

"Good point," Garrus nodded.

"Mordin Solus, combat medic specialist." The Salarian said. "And duck!" He raised his machine pistol. Crying out, Garrus threw himself aside as the Salarian emptied three bursts from it into an Elite that had been poised to impale Garrus on a large spear it was carrying.

Scrambling to his feet and witching to his assault rifle, Garrus nodded. "Thanks again."

"Again, doing my job." Mordin crouched to examine the body as the squadron began to set up a perimeter and fight off covenant patrols. "Odd, armour designs and weaponry indicate that this is not regular infantry, Spec Ops? No, no, Spec Ops always wear black armour, seen in records, covenant Spec Ops always wear black. Honour guard? Perhaps, but guarding who? High value target perhaps, yes, yes!"

The Salarian looked at Garrus. "Garrus, high value target possibly here, perhaps a prophet, most likely minor, high prophets never leave for war front."

"I understand." Garrus then spoke into his radio. "Alright we might have a Minor Covenant Prophet in the area. If you see Elite Honour Guards proceed with caution."

"We see three of them focusing on the defence of the covenant hangar!" Tali shouted.

"We're moving there! Hunter 2-8, if you see any covenant air craft attempt to escape, bring them down!" Garrus shouted. "Prazza, is the vehicle depot secured?"

Halfway across the compound, Prazza pumped to rounds from his pistol into an Elite that tried to crawl away. "Affirmative, Fire Team C has secured Vehicle Depot." He looked to the Asari, Salarian, and Turian he had been placed in charge of. "We'll hold it until this is over."

"Good job! Alright, everybody else get to the covenant hangar!" Garrus shouted before Hunter 2-8 flew overhead.

"Serpent Leader this is Hunter 2-8, occupation forces have been deployed from orbit and a blockade has been set up in case this possible VIP attempts an escape." The pilot said. "I'll deploy my fire team to help you out."

As the two squadrons-now reduced to ten and nine respectively began to close in on the hangar, Hunter 2-8 deployed a fire team of four onto the roof of the building. Cutting through, a Turian and an Asari dropped down into the hangar on cables. Several Grunts looked up and screamed before they were gunned down. Landing on their feet and unclipping themselves, the two commandos rushed to where four Elite honour guards were escorting a creature sitting in what appeared to be a floating throne towards an active Phantom where a trio of Spec Ops Elites awaited them.

The creature had orange skin and a bulbous head on a long neck. It wore a type of crown and had long fingers. It wore a red robe and had large eyes. When it saw the pair of commandos, it screamed something that was translated by their implants immediately. "Invaders! Kill them! KILL THEM!"

The four honour guards drew their spears and advanced on the commandos as their two comrades dropped down not far behind them. The Asari thrust her hand forward as she called on her Biotics and swung one Elite up into the air, bringing him down on one of his fellows. A third Elite jabbed his spear at the turian, who nimbly dodged and swung the butt of his rifle into the Elite's jaws. The fourth Elite caught the Asari off guard and impaled her on its spear. She cried out before it tossed her and the spear aside and drew a plasma sword. Ducking under its first swing, the turian tried to fire on it, but his assault rifle was cut in half. Falling back, he gave his two companions time to fired on the Elite, filling it with two full clips of ammunition.

As it fell, the second Elite pushed its unconscious comrade off of it and climbed to its feet. It threw its spear, and it impaled a turian, who cried out as it pinned him to a wall. The Salarian and the other Turian quickly gunned it down and rushed to where the Prophet was moving its chair as fast as possible towards the Gravity Beam. The three Spec Ops Elites rushed forward just before the main doors were blown open.

Hunter 2-8 was floating outside of the hangar, and Garrus and Tali's Squads rushed through the opening, guns aimed on the Prophet. Tali shouted. "Drop your weapons!"

"No! Fight and die my brothers!" The Prophet shouted, reaching for something attached to its throne-a plasma pistol!

Tali fired a single shot from her pistol and blew the Prophet's hand off. It cried out and fell from its chair while the Elites fought bravely but in vain, being gunned down after taking out two or three of the attackers.

By now, the base was silent except for the occasional burst of gun fire. Several gunships floated over the base, deploying fire teams down into the complex.

"This is Serpent Leader, Covenant outpost is secured." Garrus said. "Citadel Stronghold Outpost Alpha is ready."

Xxx

Within an hour, Pallin received the news via FTL Communications and immediately began deploying frigates to carry weapons, supplies, and troops to this new outpost. It would allow him to at least have a presence in the system without the power of the fleet. They set up jamming fields and began to transmit using covenant frequencies to send regular reports to their main fleet over Stronghold. For the moment the covenant and human fleets were maintaining distance from each other, knowing the balance could be tipped in favour of either side with the sheer power of the Orbital Guns and the amount of capital ships the humans possessed. That and some type of anti orbital cannon the humans possessed was preventing the covenant from getting close to the human fleet without being exposed to danger.

Now it was only a matter of waiting.

Xxx

**Stronghold**

**Covenant Destroyer **_**Infinite Perseverance **_

"Grenade!" Creed shouted, holding out a hand. Talo passed him one, and the Spartan triggered it and tossed it around the next corner. A trio of grunts were blown away, and Bravo team fired another salvo of bullets on the wave of covenant defenders.

Talo moved up to a covenant barricade that had been overtaken by Bravo Team and activated his combat drone. For a moment many of the defenders were confused by the sight of it before it began to zap them, damaging weapons and shielding. When one Elite fired, the Drone vanished. Talo fired his assault rifle at the Elite, gunning it down thanks to his drone disabling its shields. Genia joined Talo and began to cover Bravo team's advance up the corridor.

Despite numerical superiority, the covenant were losing ground with every passing minute.

Ataca repeatedly chambered rounds into his sniper rifle as he gunned down the now fleeing troops. Managing to catch a Jackal before it rounded a corner; he laughed and replaced his sniper rifle with his shotgun. "This war has made my blood run like no other! I feel like I'm back at the challenge of ascending to Clan Urdnot's ranks. Thresher Mauler Spitting acid at me, Varren ripping at me, fire scorching me, dust and sand blinding me!" He cackled.

"We haven't enjoyed it that much." Creed commented bitterly before moving on, replacing the plasma cell on his carbine.

Bravo continued without another word towards the detention area. When they reached the final corridor, they found dozens of elites between them and the doors. Forced behind cover from an endless wave of plasma bolts, Bravo began to plan how to overcome this new obstacle.

The answer came when the doors hissed open behind the Elites, and a pair of fuel rod guns fired, blowing away the rear most members of the blockade. Hearing Elites scream and fuel rod projectiles detonate, Creed peeked around the corner and saw two figures firing into the Elite ranks. Taking advantage of this, he came from around the corner and drew his Spartan Laser. Charging it up for three seconds, he tore a hole through an Elite, and his second shot incinerated an Elite's head.

Bravo and the pair of fighters from the brig managed to finish off the thirty some elites rather easily. The elites were all low ranking, inexperienced, and confused by the pincer movement their enemies had caught them in. Creed lowered his Spartan laser, which had an empty cell in it now. "Curana!"

"Creed!" Curana had some evidence of physical abuse, but otherwise seemed fine.

She dropped the fuel rod gun and limped over the dead Elites as her team gathered around her. Creed looked up and saw the second fighter, a massive Elite in black armour! He began to whip out his pistol, but Curana stopped him. "No! He's with me!"

"Say what now?" Creed asked, but lowered his pistol anyways, considering it was pointed dangerously close to the Asari.

"His name is Divard'Fersa, he helped me to escape!" Curana explained. "He...he has information."

"If I had intended to murder you all, I might have done so while you were in the middle of your reunion." The Elite said. "I am no loyal servant of the Prophets, not after what I have seen."

He took off his helmet, revealing his battle scarred flesh and his missing eye. "I put my hands in your fate, human, but not now, after we have escaped this infernal vessel."

"We intend to destroy it." Nathan said. "Another team is working on it while our third team is securing us a ride convenient enough for both teams to catch before this ship ends up a pile of wreckage at the bottom of Crystal Bay."

Nodding, Fersa said. "You humans are quite adept at covert warfare; I sincerely pity the crew of this vessel."

"We'll decide what to do with you later, for now if you're really interested in helping us, then helps us rendezvous with our escape ship." Maevor said.

"Take this." Creed passed Maevor his Spartan Laser and an energy cell. "I'll take Curana." As the Asari began to object, Creed cut her off. "You're barely on your feet. I'm carrying you, end of story."

Glaring up at the Spartan, she sighed. "Fine," she had to admit that she was barely able to stand on her own two feet after the combination of her interrogation, using her biotics so much, and trying to support and aim a heavy fuel rod gun.

The team, now accompanied by a massive Elite made for the hangars. Curana was hanging off Creed's shoulders, her arms around his neck and his arms supporting her legs. Maevor and Ataca took point ,checking every corner before they went around it. Fersa and Genia came up next, followed by Creed, and then Doro and Talo-who mostly kept their guns trained on Fersa but also kept an eye open for attackers coming from behind part of the time.

"So, how the hell did you two meet?" Nathan asked.

"Well, they just finished letting a Brute beat me half to death and had tossed me in a cell with him. We both ended up enticing a rather...emotional guard with our 'blasphemy', which he heard over the cameras. He came in and beat up on the poor guy, so I used my Biotics. The rest is rather easy to predict." Curana leaned her head on his shoulder. "You know, if it wasn't for the hard and uncomfortable armour I'd call this the best ride of my life."

"Don't get used to it." The Spartan replied. "Talo, contact Shaw and see if she has a way off this boat yet."

Nodding ,the Quarian accessed his speakers. He turned off his suit's external speakers incase any nearby covenant were listening. "Lieutenant Shaw, this is Talo'Serath. Curana is secure, do we have a way off of this vessel?"

"Affirmative, we've secured an orbital gun boat variant of a Phantom in Hangar 10." Shaw replied. "I haven't lost anybody else yet, but I wouldn't press my luck. Get over here and make it quick!"

"Acknowledged, Bravo Team out." Talo cut the link and turned on his speakers. "Hangar Ten."

"Ok, double time it!" Creed urged his team onwards.

Xxx

The two remaining marines accompanying Omega Team-or Alpha Team for this mission were guarding the door to Weapons' Control while Smithy went to work on applying Silvia's program to the system. Chase and Scar watched over her progress.

"Alright...give it a few minutes to load and we're good to go." Smithy said.

"That might be problematic, we have company!" One marine shouted before she fired her battle rifle through the open door.

"Alright, keep them back!" Chase and Scar joined the two marines and began to fire on a security team of Covenant Jackals.

Smithy stayed by the console to keep an eye on the loading process and make sure the covenant did not lock her out of the system before it was done. She kept one hand on her pistol just in case though.

"This is Charlie Leader, Bravo Team has Package secured and is on route to Hangar Ten." Smithy heard Shaw's voice over the radio.

"We copy Charlie Leader, we'll meet you there in a few minutes." Smithy said. "Loading process is at 25 percent!"

Chase paused to give her a thumbs up before slamming a fresh clip into his assault rifle. He slid a grenade into the under slung launcher and fired down the corridor. The percussion grenade detonated before the security team and blew away four of the Jackals. A trio of Elites joined them next and began to pin the humans down with waves of fire from their plasma rifles.

"Uh...Smithy? Please tell me it is going faster now." Scar said before he blew on Elite's head open. "I think we might have more company very soon."

"Loading is at 30 percent now." Smithy said before she joined them by the door, tossing a grenade out and watching it eliminate the last two Jackals and damage an Elite's shields. "Just keep this up and we'll be done in under two minutes."

"Great, that's very nice." One marine commented.

Xxx

Charlie Team had Hangar Ten cleared of Covenant and were surrounding a Phantom Gunboat. Three of the ten ODSTs were on board already to keep any covenant from boarding it while the rest had set up barricades around the nearby entrances.

Shaw had been forced to abandon her empty assault rifle in favour of a plasma rifle. She was sitting on a crate, holding her pistol in one hand and tapping it with her index finger repeatedly as she waited for the safe return of Bravo and Alpha.

"Alpha, Bravo, or Charlie Leaders this is General Norris, requesting a sit-rep." Shaw looked up as she heard General Norris over her radio.

"This is Charlie Leader sir, Alpha is uploading the program now, Bravo has secured the package and is moving to our position." Shaw replied.

"Good, but you might want to hurry, that Frigate looks like it might be pulling away from the Destroyer a bit." Norris advised. "I think they know something is up."

"We'll be off this boat before shit hits the fan." Shaw said as she began to pace. "Ten minutes at the most."

"I'll keep you posted, Stronghold Command out." Norris cut the link.

"Lieutenant!" Sergeant Reese shouted.

Shaw spun and saw seven Elites enter the hangar. They all wore black armour except for one in a Ship Master's silver armour. The Ship Master roared and leaped over the barricade. IT drew a plasma sword and cut down two of her men easily.

"Get back! Hurry!" Shaw shouted as she fired on the Ship Master.

"Damn it!" Reese raised his sniper rifle and fired, managing to take down an elite's shields with one shot and blow its head off with the next. He repeated this with a second Elite as the gun fight grew.

"This is Charlie Team, we are under heavy fire!" Shaw shouted into her radio as she avoided getting blown away by a plasma carbine. "Hurry it up!"

"Give us a break here Shaw, it's not exactly a cake walk trying to find our way through this damn ship!" Creed growled. "Perhaps if somebody were to give us precise directions on my HUD instead of general directions consisting of blue arrows that are probably six or seven corridors over then we would have avoided _three_ dead ends!"

"I can only do so much with the covenant jamming me, be glad that I can contact you at all Lieutenant." Silvia crossed her arms. "Now hurry to Charlie Team's position!"

"Yes, mother." Creed muttered after turning off his radio. He rolled his eyes as they went around another corner.

Xxx

"Alright...it's done!" Smithy took out the data card she had used to implant the virus. "Let's get out of here!"

"Alright, Alpha, push the enemy back and clear a way to the hangar!" Chase shouted before he and the two marines went out first and opened fire on the covenant.

"Alpha Leader, this is Stronghold High Command, the enemy destroyer is beginning to charge their FTL coils!" Norris shouted through the radio. "If it goes into slip space it'll take most of the city with it!"

"The program has been uploaded! Silvia, what are the odds that this thing will blow its own shields open before it can jump?" Chase asked as he slid a fresh clip into his rifle.

"I'd say if we time it right...no, a regular MAC bombardment will not be sufficient. General, I need access to Firing Commands of the _Patriot, Raven's Wing, Gladius, _and _Archer_." Silvia said. "Our only option is to focus all four cruisers for a singular MAC bombardment once the shields are down. As you know standard covenant shielding and counter measures work to disrupt targeting attempts and have a critical success rate of 67 percent. If we attempted a bombardment now one or two rounds may miss, and after that we would be unable to lock on anything powerful enough to destroy the vessel entirely before it jumped away."

"Alright, after it takes out its buddy and then its shields, hit her with all you've got." Norris said. "I'm putting Fortress Base on alert, this might let a covenant ship or two break the blockade."

"I think it might be worth the risk sir." Chase said. "Either we risk a possible further enemy intrusion or we lose this city and allow enemy vessels to escape destruction. All the while we'd lose the frigates and the _Centurion_ if they get pulled through also. They'd be easy pickings on the other side of any portal made by a Destroyer."

"I get it...it's all a numbers game." Norris sighed. "I've pulled the designated ships back for an orbital bombardment. Covenant battle group is making an advance now."

"Phase one of infiltration program is initiating, I am registering that the Covenant Destroyer is charging its main cannons." Silvia said.

"Yippee." Scar muttered as he slammed the butt of his rifle into a Brute as it tried to rise. The rifle bent out of shape, Scar tossed it aside and grabbed a plasma rifle. "Oh fucking great!"

"Covenant Destroyer is firing." Silvia confirmed.

Xxx

From outside, camera drones and thousands of covenant troops watched as the _Infinite Perseverance _fired its main guns. The program made by Silvia had locked directly on to the largest and closest heat source, the covenant frigate. It barely lasted twenty seconds under the salvo, attempting to return fire. As the Frigate began to drift away in flames over the horizon, it rained down debris and soon crashed over in an abandoned segment of the city, bringing down multiple buildings.

"Covenant Frigate is down!" A Recon Pelican Pilot called. "Yee haw! What a day!"

"Alright people, sit tight!" Norris barked. "Bombardment will commence in three minutes!"

Xxx

As Bravo Team entered the Hangar Bay, they found most of the ODST dead or dying. Sergeant Reese was nursing a plasma burn while Shaw was held up by the throat in the grasp of an Elite Shipmaster.

"Cermora'Fasen, ever the obedient blood hound of the liars." Divard scowled.

"You, I see I should have broken your legs also, you are as stubborn as ever old one." Cermora tossed Shaw aside. "So what treachery have you planned now?"

"How about this motherfucker?" Cermora turned as Shaw's three troops posted in the Phantom dropped down and fired their assault rifles on him.

Realizing he was surrounded and his shields were dropping fast, Cermora dropped a plasma grenade and leaped away. It detonated, momentarily distracting the fighters in the hangar bay as he rushed to a row of Seraph fighters.

"Stop him!" Divard shouted, firing on Cermora, but the Ship Master had already closed the hatch behind him and the fighter's shields began to block the projectiles fired by the marines, aliens, and Creed.

The Seraph left the hangar bay and shot away from the destroyer.

"Well I'd suggest we follow our split lipped friend's example and get the hell off this ship!" Reese groaned as he stood up, helping Shaw to her feet with assistance from the other three ODST. Taking the other two surviving ODST who had managed to live through Cermora's attacks, what was left of Charlie and the members of Bravo Team got on board the Pelican except for Maevor, Talo, and Ataca, who remained on guard for Alpha Team.

"Alpha, this is Bravo Leader we are awaiting your arrival." Creed said into his radio.

"We see the doors, wait for us!" Chase shouted before three Spartans and two marines came rushing into the hangar bay.

"Alright, everybody in!" Maevor shouted.

"Hurry!" Talo added. "The second phase of the program is soon to activate!"

Just as they got on board and Doro took control, the main cannons charged and fired again. The shields did not peel back to allow the plasma out of the protective bubble around the ship, and instead scorched the hull and hangars near the front. When it dissipated the Destroyer beginning to sink a bit, now defenceless.

"Get us out of here!" Maevor yelled.

Doro brought the Gun Boat out of the hangar and turned it away, shooting away from the Destroyer.

Xxx

"Sir, Alpha Leader reports that all teams are cleared of the Destroyer." Silvia said, appearing on the bridge of the UNSC _Raven's Wing_.

"Send the bastards to hell!" Norris barked.

"MAC Gun charged, firing solution acquired." Silvia said. "All ships forming up, locked on...firing."

Two Halcyon Class Cruisers, a Marathon Class Heavy Cruiser, and an Endurance Class Medium Cruiser fired at once. The four MAC rounds reached the Destroyer within mere moments.

Xxx

"I demand that we leave now! Where is Ship Master Fesan!" The Prophet of Restitution yelled. "I demand...answers..." He looked to the main screen as alarms wailed, showing four flashes of light as the sensors detected the incoming projectiles before they ripped through the Destroyer.

The result was an explosion from the partially charged FTL Core. Though it did not take out the entire city, it ended up destroying every trace of the Destroyer, Crystal Bay, the surrounding Covenant Forces, and anything within several miles. The explosion would have been a hundred times as large had it been an active FTL portal in an atmosphere.

The members of alpha, Bravo, and Charlie team found themselves witnessing the explosion nrather too soon for their liking.

When it knocked the Phantom around, they believed Doro would maintain control.

When the Phantom lost altitude, they still trusted their pilot's capability to save their lives.

But when the Phantom went down and crashed into a forest, their last thoughts were wishes of surviving the crash.

Xxx

End of Chapter

I kind of rushed the ending a bit...oh well, it's late when I finished this.


	10. Chapter 10

Mass Effect Wars

I have a favour to ask. If you have noticed spelling or grammar errors in the chapters, I've most likely noticed less than half of the mistakes after going over what I've put up and have most likely smacked myself in the face and yell 'Damn it!' like any over reactive author. If you have the strong urge to inform me of them please pm me.

And also I'd like to thank Dusel for pointing out a tragic flaw in my logic concerning the ability of ships with no FTL to cross through systems in four days. O_O I really hope that one line was my only mistake...ah well, if it comes up I can fix it with a few minutes of overreacting, followed by getting over wounded pride.

I own nothing ,enjoy!

Though I have learned a lesson. (opens fortune cookie) When you can't get to sleep, do not pass time by typing Fan Fiction at 1am. (crumpels note) Damn it I already learned that one! I don't own fortune cookies either!

Xxx

Chapter Ten

**Stronghold**

**Four hours since loss of contact with Rescue/Sabotage Teams Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie**

**49****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

"Sir, the covenant infantry and two remaining corvettes have pulled out of the city limits." Captain Archer said to General Norris, having appeared before him as a holographic figure. "They moved at full speed to this position just moments after we lost all sensor data from that area. We believe they have set up a generator to jam any attempts to target them just like they have done with their ships in Sector Four." She pointed out an area North of New Haven. "This makes eliminating them...problematic."

"Sir, I still do not have any contact with Spartan 067 or his teams." Silvia stated as she appeared as a much smaller avatar on General Norris' desk.

"Do we have any Search and Rescue birds in the area?" Norris asked.

"Negative, the covenant have deployed all remaining reserves and set up their remaining AA batteries, and survivors from their invasion force have also reinforced their perimeter." Silvia shook her head. "And General, they have set up in the area where Spartan 067 went down."

Norris sighed. "God help them then."

"I've also tracked the carrier that managed to bypass our orbital defence grid." Silvia added. "It has joined up with the ships in Sector 4 and has deployed an entire regiment of infantry."

That meant several thousand more covenant were on Stronghold, and each meant hundreds or thousands more humans might die.

"What are they doing heading for Sector 4? It would be risky to try getting into range of the Olympus." Norris noted, leaning forward.

"I think I may have an explanation sir. I have images of Theta Outpost." Silvia said. "A few remote camera drones managed to transmit these before they were destroyed."

Several images appeared, displayed only to Norris via his command implants. They were of what used to be Theta outpost, but now was a crater surrounded by covenant. There was a ship hovering over the crater-a small raider class ship barely half the size of a corvette.

"I do not have any recordings, only snap shots, but before the data was lost I managed to catch a glimpse of the raider ship using its main guns, which seem to have been reconfigured to fire a short range beam of focused plasma. Such a weapon would be able to cut through a ship entirely, but would be too costly to maintain unless powered on a Super Carrier while using an undersized version of it. Even then I estimate that based off of what little knowledge we have of Covenant Power Sources and how much power must be applied to individual systems on a Super Carrier sized vessel such a weapon could fire...once every three minutes."

"So how long would it take for a Raider to use it?" Archer asked.

"Well, for combat scenarios, applying enough power to cut through UNSC standard exterior Titanium-A polarized armoured hull plating...once before suffering an overload. But to apply enough power for use as an excavation beam at close range, several times an hour, perhaps three or four. And they have been digging for nine hours sir." The Smart AI noted.

"I want a corvette to land just outside the CDZ perimeter. Contact Major Adema and tell her to scramble her Shadow Team." Norris commanded. "Their orders are to infiltrate enemy lines and get me some pretty pictures of that dig site."

"Assigning ODST Shadow Squadron to suicide mission, and...done." Silvia smiled.

"I swear I wish the days when all that AIs could say were Welcome, Have a nice day, Good morning, Logging you on, or logging you off." Norris took a sip of his coffee.

"Warning, covenant fleet making another advance. MAC Platform Seven is locking on." Silvia announced.

It was back to work for General Norris.

Xxx

**Astuce**

**Citadel Outpost**

**Staging Ground of Citadel Forces**

"Interrogation failure, subject had implant, inserted right into brain. Explosive device, small but fatal." Mordin looked over his shoulder at the blood splattered room. "Not good, valuable data lost, need to compensate for suicide via explosive implants. Activated through mental command? Possible, Prophet Crown capable of minor telekinetic abilities, nothing close to Biotics, perhaps enough though. Must look into for future use."

"I have hacked into the covenant data banks and discovered references to 'Xeno Soldiers' fighting alongside a human special forces team known as 'Spartan Team Omega'." Tali said. "I managed to catch images of Spectres Curana and Sarius and their designated team of Specialists. I also have a recording of the Seraph Alphe being engaged over Stronghold by Covenant Ships and being destroyed after Life Pods were launched."

"So this explains what happened...and it seems the Spectres have seen fit to initiate first contact." Executor Pallin stated, looming over the group as his image was broadcasted via FTL Communications. "It was inevitable, but perhaps this will make the humans trust us more when we arrive in full force."

"We could transport infantry and vehicles to Stronghold now." Garrus suggested. "This could allow us to secure the crew of the Seraph Alpha. We do have a dozen frigates here now."

"I shall discuss that with the council." Pallin replied. "Remember Captain Vakarian, we need the element of surprise."

"Understood sir." Garrus nodded.

"Executor Pallin, out." The image vanished.

Wrex scoffed. "This is why you should never let a turian do a Krogan's job. No offense."

"None taken, I don't like sitting here either." Garrus replied.

"This is ridiculous; we could just go now and reinforce the humans!" Tali said. "At least then we would be doing something!"

"We'd be giving away our position here Tali, as long as the Covenant think they still have control of this planet we can build up and launch an invasion." Garrus said. "We'll wait until the Executor reports back to us."

"Well, I don't think the humans will need our help too much." Wrex shrugged. "They've got the covenant fleet at a stale mate, and those giant orbital guns could easily tip the balance in their favour. And you saw what happened over their Observation Net. They blew that Destroyer right out of the damn sky along with most of the infantry around it."

"But if the covenant keep on coming they will soon be overrun." Tali pointed out. "We need a plan. Our fleet might not be able to handle the covenant."

"Don't worry, the citadel council might not savour wars...but they never lose at them either." Garrus said.

Xxx

**Venator Forest**

**Covenant New Haven Forces Rally Point**

**50****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

**Crash Site of Hijacked Phantom (Designated Romeo Sierra 1)**

Nathan awoke to the site of his bed room ceiling. Not the ceiling of the usual UNSC barracks or Omega Camp's crappy bunk rooms, but the one in his home on the colony where he was born. Eden Prime...his father had been part of the Colonial Militia and his mother was a doctor at the clinic. They had lived in a two story house in the country only a few miles from the colony itself.

"Nate?" Nathan blinked and slowly sat up, no longer a massive and grown up Spartan Super soldier but a mere ten year old.

Standing in the door was a woman in her late twenties with long black hair that matched his, but eyes that were an amazing shade of blue. "Another nightmare?"

She came over and put a hand on his forehead. "Your fever's gotten real bad...I'll bring you into the clinic tomorrow, how does that sound?"

Nathan nodded. Alexia Creed smiled. "It'll be alright Nathan, we'll make you all better."

She kissed his forehead. "Nathan...Nathan..."

Curana screamed in his face. "NATHAN!"

Suddenly his room was gone; he was no longer a child. He was a man in high powered MJOLNIR armour in the middle of a crashed Phantom. Curana and Talo were crouched over him. He heard shouts from other members of the three squadrons and felt heat all around him.

"Prince! Get on your feet!" Chase rushed into view, picking up an assault rifle. He examined it, and then checked the clip. Satisfied, he hang it on his back. "Come on, we have to go!"

A plasma shell landed nearby, sending dirt flying all over the clearing. Creed's vision cleared, and he saw the Phantom fifty feet away. It must have crashed hours ago, because there was equipment and supplies set up until the plasma began to come down.

"Nathan, please, we have to hurry!" Curana pleaded, getting him to his feet. Talo must have given her Medi-Gel, and perhaps him too since both he and the Asari were functioning reasonably well.

Standing up on his own, Nathan looked for his helmet and saw it on the ground a few feet away. Picking it up, he put it on and found a crack in the visor, but otherwise it was unharmed. "What's going on?"

"The covenant found us, we have to get out of here!" Chase said, passing Creed a plasma carbine.

"Aeso, Doro, cover the tree line!" Maevor shouted from out of sight before a rocket flew past.

"Form up on me, let's move out!" Chase shouted.

Creed saw an abandoned knife on the ground. Picking it up, he strapped the sheath to its usual position as he followed the rest of his team and secured the knife to it. Satisfied, he joined Chase and Ataca at the front, his carbine in hand.

"Watch for more artillery!" Chase yelled as he stumbled through some burning bushes. "Smithy, where's our damn evac?"

"Radio is still jammed!" Smithy replied. "We'll need to go on foot from-ugh!" Smithy was cut off by a new wave of covenant plasma shells.

"Damn!" Scar shouted. "Smithy ,watch out! Over here!"

Creed was sent flying by a plasma shell that reduced several trees to a crater. He rolled down a slope and rolled to his feet at the bottom. Talo, Shaw, Curana, Reese, and a pair of marines were with him.

"Damn, I lost track of Prince!" Smithy shouted.

"Just keep moving Smithy, we're fine!" Creed shouted into his radio.

"Watch out!" A marine shouted before a shell fell nearby and the man screamed before he was incinerated.

Xxx

**UNSC Mako Class Corvette **_**Tide**_

**Outside CDZ**

Major Holly Adema stepped into the locker room assigned to her squadron of six ODSTs. She was in her full ODST armour and had her helmet on, covering her features. She watched as her team finished equipping themselves.

1st Lieutenant Jane Shepard was younger than two of the other squad members, but she had six years of combat under her belt. She had black hair swept off to the side and blue eyes. All in all Adema had not expected much from her when they met four years ago, but within three missions in a month Shepard had ended up in Adema's good books. She was the team's sniper.

Master Sergeant Ashley Williams was the only other person of real notice. The rest of the Hell Jumpers were all capable enough to become a member of Shadow Squad, and this was good enough for Adema since she herself had picked them. Ashley had dark hair tied up in a bun and tanned skin. She was the all around 'everywoman' of the team.

The rest of the ODSTs were Staff Sergeant Dobkin the demolition's expert, Staff Sergeant Connor the team's second sniper, Staff Sergeant Barnes the first rifleman, and Staff Sergeant Anton the second rifleman and mechanic.

"Ten hut!" Shepard barked, snapping a salute, as did the rest of Shadow Squad.

"At ease," Adema said stiffly. "Alright, we have eleven minutes until we land. This ship is our way in and our way out so we'll be doing Lieutenant Fields a favour so he can pick us up once our objective is complete." She set out a mini holographic pad, which showed a map of the operations area. "Alright, this is the perimeter." A red circled form in the center of the green tinged hologram. "We'll land here, half a click east of the perimeter." A yellow dot appeared outside the circle. "As we advance, we'll set up charges to AA guns and any heavy vehicles we find along the way so we can clear a path for pick up. We get to this area here." A yellow line led to an area of the red circle and the hologram zoomed in on the peninsula where Theta Outpost was once located. "We'll snap some photos, fall back five or six miles, and then blow every gun and depot we've rigged. The _Tide_ will evac us out. Clean and simple."

"Supposing the covvies don't pull yet another cloaked ship out of their ass." Sergeant Williams said. "But then again I'm so used to that I stopped bitching on day two."

"Amen to that." Dobkin mumbled. "Heard that on Reach they had an entire Super Carrier cloaked and it took out a frigate under it in less than a second."

"I doubt they'll bother wasting a few miles of land to take out a corvette." Adema shook her head.

The small corvette, which was barely half the size of a Frigate was flying low over the countryside.

"Shadow to Deployment Bay, repeat, Shadow to Deployment Bay." Lieutenant Fields, the commanding officer of the Corvette said over the intercom.

"You heard her Shadow, on your feet!" All seven marines rushed out of the locker room and down the hall into the largest room on the entire corvette: the docking bay, which could hold two Pelicans and three Warthogs. Several members of the _Tide's_ twenty five person strong marine compliment stood on deck with rocket launchers and sniper rifles as the Corvette began to make a turn northwards to prepare for the drop.

The hatches opened up as Shadow Squadron got into one of the Pelicans, which had a Gauss Warthog attached to it.

"Deploying Charlie-Bravo 445." The Pilot of the Pelican said as the drop ship was moved into position over the deployment bay door.

"Altitude, one kilometre." Lieutenant Fields replied.

"We're ready," The Pilot said. "Releasing clamps on my mark."

The ODSTs counted to three. The pilot released the clamps and shouted. "Mark!"

The Pelican dropped from the deployment bay and fell several hundred meters as the thrusters slowly began to take control of the descent. By the time it was close to the ground the danger had passed and the Pilot was smoothly bringing the Pelican down into a clearing. Releasing the hog, he shouted. "Alright, here's your stop major!"

"Everybody out!" Adema urged her squadron out of the Dropship.

"Charlie-Bravo 445 returning for docking." The Pelican pulled away.

"Ok, Williams, you're on the gun. Dobkin, you ride shotgun. Anton, you drive." Adema set out orders for the squad. "Shepard, Connor, you're both on point, fifty meters ahead. Barnes, you and I take the flanks. Move slow until we run into hostile resistance."

Shadow Squadron set out to accomplish their mission. Williams hopped onto the back of the warthog and manned the powerful Gauss Cannon mounted on it. Shepard and Connor rushed ahead of the squad with their sniper rifles out.

"No contacts, but there's a river bed up ahead." Shepard whispered barely thirty seconds into the seemingly endless walk. "Connor, go high, I'll scout on the bottom of it."

"Hold position Williams," Adema ordered. "Barnes, stay here, I'll go ahead and give Shepard some extra cover."

When she managed to get through the bushes she saw that the path did indeed lead to a river bed. There had once been a mighty river at some point, but now it was sand and mud, and ramps of dirt had been made to allow vehicle access. They had tire tracks on them from years of use. Obviously the colonists had used this after they followed the usual procedure of damming rivers up and redirecting them to support nearby colony towns. Afterwards it must have been used as a path for vehicles to search for food and supplies for said colony.

Connor was out of sight. Even if it wasn't overcast today it would be difficult to locate him. That was his specialty: remaining hidden. Shepard was at the bottom of the ravine, advancing further into the Covenant Territory. Adema lightly tapped the gauntlet on her right wrist, tapping one of the keys built into the computer so it sent a signal to Shepard's helmet. The sniper paused and tapped her own gauntlet, sending a green acknowledgement light to Adema.

"Hold." Connor whispered through the radio. "Shepard...now!"

Shepard threw herself to the right, rolling. Suddenly a deafening bang made Adema spin partially as a bullet flew past her, across the river bed and struck something that sent alien blood splattering all over the rocks. Connor stood behind Adema as if he had apparated from nowhere.

"One day Sergeant, I am going to find out how you do that." Adema rolled her eyes and they both moved down the ramp, sliding a bit until they regrouped with Shepard around the body of an Elite.

"Probably more of them, proceed with caution." Adema said before she spoke into her radio. "This is Shadow Leader, move forward, but be advised we have Spec Ops Elites sneaking around here."

Williams replied with an acknowledgement light, and as the trio of ODSTs moved down the river bed the Warthog and Barnes came into sight and joined them.

"I see a few hostiles up ahead. Two Jackals, and they're...uh...snacking." Connor said from the left side of the river bed up ahead. "I'll take one."

"I have the other." Shepard replied before two gun shots rang out. When the rest of Shadow Squad found the Jackals they were missing their heads thanks to the two Hell Jumpers.

"Enemy neutralized." Shepard said dully.

"Don't be so sure!" Williams said as a Ghost shot out from behind some rocks and moved deeper into the CDZ. "A scout!"

"Take him out!" Adema shouted, raising her DMR and trying to lock onto the driver. She, Barnes, Shepard, and Conner opened fire on the Ghost, but with no effect as Anton gunned the jeep.

"Shadow 2, Shadow 4, Shadow 7, with me, we'll regroup with Shadow 3, 5, and 6 at Rally Point Delta up ahead." Adema snapped, leading her fire team out of the ravine. "Shadow 2, take out that Ghost and hurry to the rendezvous point!"

"We got it ma'am, don't worry!" Williams replied.

"Good luck Sergeant, Adema out." Major Adema cut the link. "Let's go!"

The four ODSTs rushed through the bushes towards Rally Point Delta. But first they ran into an enemy position. It was a few old shacks and homes once used by colonists. Now a squadron of grunts, a trio of Jackals, and an Elite were using it as a fire base. Barnes tossed a grenade, which took out two of the Grunts while Connor and Sheppard picked off one Grunt each. As the Elite rushed to the perimeter of the small housing area to see what was happening, Adema had positioned herself on top of the entrance to the building closest to the fire fight. As the Elite came out, she leaped down and sent the Elite tumbling to the ground. Rolling away from the Elite, she got to her feet and raised her DMR, fired seven times into the Elite, and put an eighth shot into its head before it even got is plasma rifle out.

The fire team cleared the rest of the covenant out without any difficulties and with little waste in ammo.

"This is Shadow 3, the Ghost's driver is eliminated and we even got the vehicle intact, we're moving to Delta!" Williams reported as they moved through a narrow pass between two low cliffs.

"We're two hundred meters away and closing in on Delta." Adema replied. "See you there Shadow 3."

The ODSTs moved to reunite with their comrades.

Xxx

**Venator Forest, Coastal Area**

**51****st**** hour of Covenant Invasion**

"Still no sign of any covenant," One of Shaw's ODSTs said from the entrance to the small cave the group had chosen to hide in. "I think we're clear Lieutenant."

"Keep on guard their Private." Sergeant Reese ordered, joining him with the other two ODSTs at the mouth of the cave. "They're sneaky bastards."

"I'll go set up a beacon somewhere so somebody can find us." Shaw said from where the team's belongings were left against a wall. She pulled out a beacon from her pack and stood, putting her helmet on. "Wait here and take shifts." She rushed out of the cave without a word.

"Well, aside from the fact that I've ruined my favourite and only suit and I'll most likely require repairs to it-and I doubt the standard UNSC warship is equipped with completely sterile rooms, this isn't so bad." Talo said from where he, Creed, and Curana were further in the cave.

Creed had taken off his damaged armour, leaving him in a pair of loose, grey pants and a white tank shirt. His armour was damaged to the point where it may as well be replaced. Luckily his weapons were completely fine.

"It could be worse Talo." Curana pointed out. "We could be dead, or your suit could have been completely ripped apart."

"I know just how curious people are to see a Quarian under this suit." Talo chuckled. "But don't expect me to do any strip teasing any time soon."

"Are we trying to make me vomit?" Reese asked. "Dude, I don't even want to know what is under that suit. For all I know you could be some slimy, bony, six eyed alien with a beak."

Talo chuckled again. "Surprisingly my kind is more similar to yours than the Jackals, Sergeant. We have mouths, two eyes, two ears, we grow hair-though very slowly. I admit I'm not exactly winning any beauty contests under this helmet but I am by no means hideous by your standards or mine." He paused. "Oh, and if you insinuate that I have a beak again, I'll show you one difference our species has: physical strength."

"It's true; despite common belief Quarians are physically capable of arm wrestling a Turian." Curana supplied.

"You're saying this little guy can take on the big scaly dude? The one who you said is a bad ass?" Sergeant Reese laughed. "I'd pay to see him try taking _me_ on!"

"Ok, you literally asked for it." Talo shrugged...and three seconds later Sergeant Reese was on his stomach with his arm forced back at an angle and held by the thin but surprisingly strong arms of the Quarian, who was not even trying as the marine struggled. Finally Reese managed to get free, turned over, and slammed his boot into Talo's gut. The Quarian stumbled back, and the Marine leaped at him as the group gathered to watch the spar.

Talo did a side roll to avoid it and came up in a crouch. As Reese tried again to tackle him Talo rolled back, brought his knees up to his chest, and slammed both feet into the man's chest. The spar was not entirely one sided, Reese almost had Talo pinned from time to time, but soon the Quarian had him in a head lock that the human could not have escaped from even if he was fighting a regular human.

"Gah...ok! Ok! I give!" Reese tapped out.

"How much was it that you would be willing to pay again, Sergeant?" Talo asked innocently.

Reese grumbled as the team shared a momentary laugh.

Xxx

As the next hour dragged on, it began to get dark as it started to rain outside.

Shaw returned after barely five minutes and had wondered why Reese was avoiding eye contact and why her other three marines made jabs at him. When she found out Talo beat him she lectured him. "Damn it Reese if that guy was with the covenant you'd be dead by now!" They shared another laugh-well Shaw and Reese didn't.

Now Creed was looking over his wounds, which had healed thanks to the Omni Gel Talo gave him. Curana was sitting next to him.

"Talo told me that you had demanded to be allowed to rescue me." She smiled. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Creed looked at her and shrugged. "I couldn't leave you like that; you're just starting to grow on me."

Curana did the Asari version of raising one eye brow-as they had no eye brows he could only tell by light blue markings on her skin that allowed him to define the ridge of her skull. "I thought Spartans don't make friends?"

"OH, you've been listening to that crappy propaganda in the marine corps?" Creed scoffed. "A few Hell Jumpers have problems with us. One time they tried to ambush a Spartan II in a gym on a Carrier and two of them ended up dead from being beaten to death. Ever since then most Spartans find themselves being given the cold shoulder or...well just the usual fear that all great fighters demand." He shrugged. "And besides-"

He was cut off when Curana suddenly kissed him. At first his instinct was to shove her away or at least gently force her away so he didn't end up shattering her bones against a cave wall. Instead he brought her closer to him. Luckily they had moved deeper into the cave while the ODSTs and Talo were sparring closer to the entrance.

For a moment one of Creed's implants gave him a headache. It was a concept project to further dissuade Spartans from doing things like this by giving head splitting headaches. He didn't even feel it, only the Asari that had blasted her way into his life, shared jokes with him, made him open up, and then made him go out of his way and almost fall to his death from a Phantom and nearly die when crashing in another Phantom just to save her.

After defeating another ODST, Talo turned as the loser's comrades teased him. He had difficulty seeing through the dark, so he adjusted his visor's settings, and the darkness seemed to vanish.

Curana was no long in Creed's arms, and they were no longer kissing. Curana was sliding a fresh clip into her reassembled MA37 rifle and Creed was still trying to get the data card out of the back of his helmet.

Shrugging, the Quarian turned to face his next challenger.

It was a whole hour before a Pelican found their signal and picked them up.

Xxx

Ok, I suck at initiating romances, but stick with me. O_o

End of chapter!

Oh, and guess which characters are named after some rather well known characters. Here's a hint, the ones in this are not main characters.


	11. Chapter 11: CDZ Invasion Part One

Mass Effect Wars

We now have several plots to follow!

Will Nathan, Curana and friends repel the covenant? Will The Citadel Fleet arrive in time? Will Shipmaster Cermora get his revenge? And most importantly...will somebody hit me before I keep going on like this? O_O (gets beaten down by a doze rabid fans) OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! (15 minutes later) Ow...ok, thanks. MEDIC!

By the way..changed my mind about something...Ghosts of Onyx never happened in this. I didn't quite like it and I felt that Halsey would have done much better if she had gone back to Earth. Also decided to let some more Spartans survive.

Anyways, I own nothing, enjoy the chapter!

Xxx

Chapter Eleven: CDZ Invasion Part One

**Stronghold**

**UNSC **_**Raven's wing**_

**105****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

In the past two days, over thirty UNSC ships had been destroyed along with two MAC Platforms. Now just over two hundred remained and no others would be coming for days or weeks on end. By now several million people had been evacuated off of the planet through the Fortress Base Evac Site, just over nine million. A total of sixteen million-four hundred thousand had been lifted off world successfully.

Omega Team had taken part in several more large scale fire fights against Covenant consisting of clearing bases, rescuing convoys, or sabotaging Covenant positions. Casualties were well into the tens of thousands on both sides, though the victory of New Haven left the humans with significantly fewer losses.

Nathan was given a new set of armour mere hours after returning to the _Raven's Wing._ It was of the same design of his old one, minus some key features he had added. But even now he was satisfied with it even as yet another suicide mission was being called.

"Two days ago, not long after we lost your signal had we deployed a Covert ODST Squadron deep into Covenant Territory in Sector Four." General Norris pointed out the CDZ on a map. "They were led by Major Adema, a single squadron of seven deployed by the UNSC _Tide_." A schematic of a standard Corvette appeared as he said this. "They were dropped not too far outside the CDZ and went in along the Umbrana River Bed." A red line appeared on the map. "They managed to get seventeen clicks into the CDZ and sent a single report about a digging operation to the UNSC _Atlanta_ in low orbit before they vanished entirely."

"Spartan 092, you have the floor." Norris stepped aside so Chase could address the gathered Spartans, Aliens, and ONI Officers before him.

"Alright, this op will consist of five different objectives." Chase said. "Objective One is the covenant AA batteries set up in the CDZ." He pointed out several AA sites in one particular area, the one where Shadow Team vanished. "We have an entire Brigade of marines and two more of Militia committed to this. They will lead an infantry and armoured charge into covenant territory supported by Falcons and Hornets after the UNSC _Patriot_ makes a blind bombing run of the area to put them off guard. They'll advance behind it and get in close under cover of several artillery barrages." It showed arrows representing the UNSC front lines advancing into the CDZ. "While they distract the covenant, six teams will be deployed to take out these twelve different sites." Twelve red dots turned into blue dots.

"We can't use regular squad designations, covenant have learned to ID Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and all that crap over the radio chatter whenever their toys start breaking down." Chase said. "Go over the codes provided afterwards, if you have trouble remembering them the Dumb AIs provided to squad leaders will be able to provide more help in the field."

"I'll be leading Team Striker." The Spartan continued. "Scar will take Crow. Smithy will take Hunter. Prince has Guard. Sarius will have Raptor. And Curana will have Blue."

Sarius, who had by now learned of what a Raptor was and put two and two together with Curana said. "Interesting names."

"The squadrons will fight to each AA site with assistance from nearby marine and militia forces and eliminate them." Chase said. "Don't get picky about how you do it. Blow it up, sabotage it, deactivate it so we can bomb it, the choice is yours."

"We have four frigates that can provide support once the AA guns are down." General Norris took over. "After we have Objective One secured we will move on tow Objective Two: The Jamming Generators. We will deploy Falcons to visually sight them and transmit their location to nearby teams. Objective Three is the elimination of the Covenant Carrier that recently has reinforced the covenant in Sector 4. It has hundreds of fighters and drop ships on it capable of crippling our attack."

"But we have found a way to take care of it." Chase interjected. "The Carrier is positioned right at the edge of what will be codenamed the Barrier Zone. It is out of the line of fire from Olympus. We're going to push it into range by taking this AA gun." A dot turned yellow further into the zone. "It is no threat to our Frigates when they get in if they stay far from it, but it is close enough to punch a hole through that carrier's shields if they don't get out of range fast. It's been dropping covvies down there to cover one of their flanks like crazy, so we doubt she'll be moving any time soon since that position is so perfect: protected from Olympus, too much AA power for an air attack, and too much infantry, armour ,and the Carrier itself for a ground attack without heavy casualties." Chase smirked. "Let's make her get off her ass and pull her weight."

"What if she just jumps?" Scar asked.

"Then she jumps, and hopefully doesn't take the team shooting at her with it." Chase said. "And that's bad news for me since my team will be handling that one personally."

"Objective Four is Sierra Base. It was reinforced before the covenant took over that area, and she's laying low. She has four active nukes left after Captain Dalton helped pick off some ships in orbit, and we can use that. We'll secure it, use it as a command post in Sector Four, and if necessary use it to blow the Covenant off the face of Stronghold." Norris sat down. "And Objective Five...Theta Outpost, or what used to be Theta Outpost. They're digging for something there, I want a team to get close and set up an observation outpost of the area. Afterwards we'll either blow it to hell or storm it and take whatever they're after."

"I'd suggest the latter, General." A woman was suddenly up front with Chase and Norris.

She was attractive for her age, but had obvious signs of stress and age. She had black hair that was bordering on grey and she wore a pair of slacks and a blazer under a white coat that had the emblem of ONI NavSpecWep on it.

"Doctor, glad to see your shuttle arrived." General Norris said. "People, this is Catherine Halsey, Head of the Spartan II Project and our advisor on this situation."

"The Regular Project?" Chase asked. "I thought High Command never wanted her to find out about us."

"I've known about the Omega Spartans for several months Lieutenant, and I have already vented my frustrations to Command." Halsey narrowed her eyes as she looked at Chase, and then to Creed, Scar, and Smithy. "I have no personal feelings about Command going about behind my back. I find it a bit of a relief, I thought we were almost out of Spartans and here I find we have three times as many as there used to be." She looked back to the gathering. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the following information is classified to the extent that if I hadn't been the one to document it from field soldiers who have experienced similar situations to what is happening."

She slid a data crystal into the control panel.

**CLASSIFIED, EYES ONLY**

**WARNING, LOCAL AI CONFIRMS UNPERMITTED PERSONNEL ARE VIEWING THIS FILE.**

**DO YOU WISH TO OVERRIDE LOCK DOWN?**

Halsey typed in a 17 digit code.

**LOCK DOWN CODE OVERWRITTEN, OPENING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT.**

**DOCUMENT O9342-5631D 'Forerunner'**

"This may be a lot to take on, you might want to halt the invasion plans for several hours General." Halsey said casually.

"Don't worry, we don't begin until tonight." Norris replied as she opened the first file.

"Good," The Civilian Director of the Spartan II Project muttered.

Xxx

**Citadel Frigate Battlegroup (Designated Advance 1)**

**On Approach to Stronghold (Stealth Systems Active to avoid enemy detection)**

**Citadel Frigate **_**Aesina**_

Garrus stood in the CIC of the _Aesina_ with Krogan Battlemaster Urdnot Wrex, Tali'Zorah vas Neema, Mordin Solus, and the Frigate's Captain Blanaca Espirani, a female Turian who should have been in charge of an entire Fleet by now for all Garrus knew about her. She had served several times as long as anybody else Garrus could name outside of the General Staff and Admiralty of the turian Hierarchy. Ten frigates packed full of soldiers and vehicles were moving towards Stronghold under the protection of standard stealth systems and using cyber warfare to scramble Covenant and Human Scanners.

"Alright, there appears to be a large amount of activity in an area designated Sector Four by the humans, so we'll land there." Espirani said as she strolled back and forth. "After we land, you can contact the Spectres if they're still alive and hopefully get to doing something to begin this campaign."

"The Human Data Net indicates a massive operation will be made into Sector Four, in the largest covenant controlled region on the planet." Tali spoke up as she looked over her Omni Tool, which was linked to the Frigate's systems, which were connected to the Cyber Warfare Package set up back at their base. "No details, but a large amount of human forces have moved into Sector Four last night to prepare for it and four frigates have been rerouted for atmospheric support."

"The humans must have something better than a direct charge planned." Espirani muttered. "They'd be slaughtered."

"Modern human tactics usually compose of frontal assaults, a distraction for covert teams to infiltrate enemy lines." Mordin said. "Communications state advance scout team was sent in two days ago, went missing yesterday, identified high value target."

"So that's why they're tossing so many out there." Wrex commented.

"Regardless of their goal, we'll land and make contact with the Spectres. If we can get the humans to avoid firing on us we can deploy our infantry and begin bringing more men in." Espirani said. "Prep for landing, we hit the ground in an hour."

Xxx

**Stronghold, CDZ**

**Thermopylae Trail**

"Ma'am, the turret's all out!" Connor shouted as he leaped down from the Warthog's mounted turret and grabbed his sniper rifle from the edge of the back half of the LRV.

"Barnes, grab another ammunition case and give us some fire power!" Adema shouted. "Shepard, Williams, left flank!"

Barnes hoisted himself up onto the moving Warthogand reached for the last remaining case of ammunition for the Machine Gun. Shepard, Williams, Adema, Connor, and Dobkin were covering the slow moving LRV, which in turn covered them with the machine gun as Anton drove it.

"I'm out!" Dobkin shouted as he ejected his assault rifle's empty magazine.

"Here!" Williams passed him one. "Barnes, pass us some clips!"

"Give me a damn minute here!" The Sergeant replied as he managed to finish connecting the ammo belt into the machine gun and began firing on the pursuing Covenant.

"I'll grab some!" Connor rushed to the passenger seat and hoisted himself up. Grabbing a small pouch of ammunition and strapping it to his upper body, he leaped out and fired two shots from his rifle before he joined the rest of the team in their walking pace retreat.

"Out!" Dobkin ejected the magazine Williams gave him before Connor passed him another.

"I'm out too!" Williams secured her rifle to her back and brought up her pistol, firing twice and taking down an Elite that lost its shields.

"Ma'am, if I remember the maps right there should be a relay outpost up ahead!" Anton shouted over the gun fire. "If we head out of the woods up ahead onto Road 73-D and take it a click west we should find it!"

"I saw a relay when we were back up in the hills!" Williams shouted.

"Shepard! Connor! Cover our retreat!" Adema shouted. "Dobkin! With me! Williams, in the Hog! Shepard, Connor,take up covering positions until I give you an all clear, head fifty feet past me and Dobkin!" Adema shouted, sliding a fresh clip into her pistol and fired a single bullet into an expose Brute's head.

"Yes ma'am!" Connor and Shepard took up cover on the sides of the narrow path behind rocks and tossed a grenade each back at the pursuing covenant and then fired their sniper rifles. Several Grunts and a Jackal or two were caught in the explosions and a Brute took one to the face from Shepard's rifle.

"CLEAR!" Adema shouted through the radio.

"Move it Connor!" Shepard shouted at her partner before they both rushed up the path and between Adema and Dobkin, who fired their assault rifles and mowed down a grunt that was rearing back to throw a plasma grenade. The grenade took out an Elite and a pair of Jackals that ran past the Grunt.

"We're at the road!" Anton shouted through the radio. "Ma'am, there's a pair of Mongooses here! Looks like a scout team got hit during the initial invasion!"

"Alright, I'll cover you three, get to the edge of the road and cover me on my way out!" Adema ordered Shepard, Connor, and Dobkin.

Dobkin joined Shepard and Connor at where the path opened up onto a road filled with several dead covenant and human bodies. Williams, Barnes, and Anton joined them and raised their weapons as one as Adema stood up, sliding the last clip for her MA37 in and chambering a round before firing short bursts as the covenant front lines. She turned when she ran out of ammo and sprinted for the road as the squad opened fire, aiming past or over her.

"Hunters!" Anton shouted.

Adema had time to spin before a Hunter-which had charged into a wave of gun fire swung its shield arm and sent her flying. She struck a tree, and arched her back as a 'snap' rang out. The Hunter stepped on her as it kept running. Blood splattered her visor, and she feebly twitched as the Hunter charged its fuel road cannon. Slowly taking out a plasma grenade, she whispered through her radio. "Run."

Shepard heard the order. "Negative, we can still reach you-!"

"I gave you a fucking order Lieutenant Shepard, follow it." Adema whispered, staring through her cracked visor as the Hunter fired once, the shot flying over the ODST squadron as they took cover.

Shepard hesitated. "Shadow...load up and get the hell out of here."

The other five members of Shadow Squadron hesitantly left the fire fight and rushed for the waiting vehicles. Anton and Barnes hopped into the Warthog while Shepard and Connor took one Mongoose and Williams and Dobkin took the second mongoose.

An Elite stepped into view of Adema, and looked down at her. Her hands hid the unarmed plasma grenade from its sight as it went over and crouched before her, checking to see if she was alive. Several other covenant advanced into range when Adema smirked. "Hey, fuck face."

The Elite growled and activated its plasma sword at the same moment Adema activated the plasma grenade.

"Surprise," Then the plasma grenade detonated and incinerated Adema, the Elite, and several nearby Covenant soldiers and sent several more flying.

Gunning the Mongoose forward, Shepard's HUD showed Major Adema's biosigns flat lining. She would have to cry later because she had a Hunter coming right at her! She roared down the road and out of range of the Hunter as it fired on the fleeing humans.

"Shit...what do we do now?" Barnes asked.

"We get to that Relay Outpost and radio for help." Shepard said.

It was a quick drive to Relay Outpost November 4. The outpost consisted of a front wall with several AA guns and machine guns set up along with the wreckages of some warthogs and corpses of a platoon's worth of marines. Behind that was an area used for landing and live fire training among other things surrounded by various buildings. It was the size of a small foot ball field and had various barricades, some of them makeshift and some of them actual cement barricades. The outpost was built in a small canyon, so it was impossible to flank it and hard to try landing ships in it-especially with heavy AA guns.

The six humans drove up the ramp leading through the open gates.

"Anton, get on closing those gates." Shepard said as they all stopped in the main yard and began to dismount their vehicles. "Connor, Williams, check for survivors. Barnes, Dobkin, head for the relay controls and see if we're transmitting. I'll work on those automatic turrets."

Shadow Squad spread out. Anton went to the control center on the wall and began to look over the controls. Connor and Williams made for the barracks. Williams stopped at the main doors and gripped the handle. Connor switched to his pistol and nodded to his superior officer, who swung the door open and let Connor rush in first before following him.

Barnes and Dobkin made their way to the communications center, a small two story structure. After several minutes Dobkin reported to Jane. "This might take a few minutes ma'am, but we can get a transmission through."

"I have the gate controls fixed!" Anton shouted before the main gates slid shut.

Jane, who had made her way to the gunnery controls under the control center replied. "Alright, Dobkin and Barnes regroup with Anton. We need to figure out a defence plan." She paused as the console lit up, and the defences came online.

"We have plenty of munitions left over in the armoury." Williams spoke up. "We could focus around the Communications Center and defend it until back up arrives."

"I'd suggest we hurry, we have three covenant drop ships incoming." Anton said.

Satisfied, Shepard exited the gunnery controls. "Alright, form up and get ready Shadow! Hand out ammo and set up weapons caches! We need to hold this outpost!"

Xxx

**UNSC Front Lines**

**Pelican Sierra 4-8, on route to Covenant AA Site 8**

**112****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

Below the flights of Falcons, hundreds of Warthogs were leading a charge across open terrain towards covenant lines with several dozen Scorpion Tanks mixed in with them. There were also hundreds of Mongooses with rocket jockeys riding on the back. Miles behind this line of fire power, thousands of UNSC Infantry were being loaded into Pelicans and Carrier Warthogs. Dozens of Falcons accompanied by twice as many Hornets were flying low over the charge against the Covenant.

In one of the six Pelicans included, Nathan sat with six ODSTs. He had an AI added to his armour's systems, a Dumb AI by the name of Hale. He was cradling an MA37C assault rifle, a cut down carbine version of the MA37 rifle with and under slung grenade launcher mounted on it. The gun had three firing modes: semi-automatic and two forms of burst fire-one fired two bullets per shot and the other fired three. The gun had proven to have greater accuracy than the regular model, but the slower firing rate made it a mid to far range weapon instead of close range like the automatic MA37.

He also had an SMG strapped to each thigh, and a shotgun on his back. He was carrying as much ammo as possible on his person, including grenades and a rocket pack.

Each ODST had a rocket pack, as did Nathan, and carried assault rifles, DMRs, and sniper rifles. One had a grenade launcher, and another a rocket launcher hanging on his back.

"Guard Leader this is Legend oh Six." Captain Archer said through the radio. "We'll be deploying several trooper fire teams into your area over the course of your mission, so you'll have some help, but you'll need to clear away small Anti Air defences to allow Falcons or Hornets to land. I'd send in more Pelicans, but we'll need them for pushing inwards once the AA grid in this sector is down."

Legend Oh Six, the codename for the _Legionnaire_. The other three frigates, _Goliath, Luna,_ and _Plutonian_ were respectively identified as Gallows five seven, Light nine six, and Panther four three. The signs had been given random number and name designations by Silvia so as to throw the covenant off if they hacked the local Comm. Net again.

Every member of the six teams being deployed had been forced to commit every phrase that identified a friendly unit, a ship, a vehicle, air craft, or target to memory. The regular invasion force would rely on regular jargon and codes during this attack.

"Be advised, Patriot is beginning orbital bombardment." Archer added before multiple missiles and several MAC shells fell from the sky and struck the edge of the CDZ three miles ahead of the column.

"SATCOM Has just reported that we hit AA Site Five!" Archer said as explosions rippled along covenant lines. "Looks like we also hit some of their smaller Triple A and turrets but a lot of their infantry and heavy armour were out of range, and we see air craft heading for you."

"I copy Legend Oh Six," Nathan nodded, keeping professional. "How long until we deploy?"

"I'd say about now!" Doro shouted from the cockpit before he avoided getting blasted out of the air by a Banshee.

Down below, hundreds of vehicles began to engaged each other in combat as the plains turned into a field of chaos. Some groups were thrown from their vehicles and survivors took cover in wreckage. Rockets and fuel rod shells flew back and forth, sniper rifles cracked as they delivered high powered bullets to enemy flesh, humans and aliens screamed as they were slaughtered by their individual foes.

"Alright, breaking off for AA Site 8!" Doro shouted before manoeuvring his drop ship away from the rest of the column, as did the other five Pelicans.

Doro brought the Pelican over some foot hills as several Banshees pursued them.

"We have company behind us. I'll open the rear hatch, get rid of them!" The Batarian Pilot ground out.

As the hatch opened, an ODST manned the mounted turret while the one with the rocket launcher took the loaded weapon and locked on to one of the pursuing Banshees.

"Keep this baby straight, I'd rather not blow out our own engines." The ODST said, and released one rocket after the Batarian straightened out the Pelican.

The missile struck on Banshee and reduced it to scrap metal. The ODST cheered and began to lock on with her second rocket. "Rocket away!" Another Banshee down.

"Save the rest of those missiles! We might need them!" Creed shouted. "Doro, how far to our LZ?"

"It's coming up in forty seconds!" Doro replied. "I won't have time to set this rig down though!"

"We'll jump then! And use our packs to land safely!" Creed replied. "Corporal, keep on this turret, this is our support, evac, and transport for this mission, keep it in one piece!"

The ODST on the turret nodded. "Aye sir!"

"The rest of you, prepare to jump on my mark!" Creed and the ODSTs lined up, crouched at the back of the Pelican. Creed held up two fingers, his index and middle fingers.

He counted down, lowering each finger. "MARK!"

Two ODSTs leaped out first and let themselves fall a bit before they activated their rocket packs. By the time they touched the ground the next two had joined them, and then Creed and the fifth ODST were on the ground barely three seconds later. The last two Banshees, knowing one of the ODSTs had the launcher, chose to pursue the Pelican instead.

"I'll keep these scum busy, get to that gun!" Doro shouted over the radio.

"Alright, Guard Team move out!" Creed ordered.

Xxx

"Blue Leader here, we are setting down." Curana said as her six ODSTs, lead by Talo'Serath set up a perimeter in the small clearing among the forest of rocks and spires that was their LZ.

"Guard Squad has landed and is on route to AA Site Eight. Your target is AA Sit Two, get there and take it down." Archer said.

"We'll have it done within the hour." Curana hefted her weapon and led her team up the trail. "Talo, you have point."

Nodding ,the Quarian pulled out his sniper rifle and rushed ahead, moving silently. He began to climb the rocks on the side for an elevated view.

"Halt." He whispered through his radio. "A pair of Grunts...that means at least a squadron is in the area, looks like a scout party." He watched as two Grunts sat on some rocks and began to exchange words in their own language. They were obviously shirking their duty...

So nobody cared sixty seconds later when Talo had made his way down to them without being seen and snapped the first Grunt's neck. The second Grunt leaped to his feet with a cry, only to be silenced as Talo tackled it and jammed his knife's blade deep into its throat. He stood up, dragging one body away to hide it from sight. "All clear."

Blue Squadron moved on.

Xxx

As Chase leaped from his Pelican, he looked to a nearby plateau where another Pelican was depositing Scar and his team of ODSTs. "Striker has landed. Crow, give me a sit rep."

"Crow is moving." Scar replied. "We'll see you soon Striker."

Striker team only had to rush down a slope and through a cave before they found the area where AA Gun 7 was positioned. It was kept at the mouth of a canyon and was firing on nearby UNSC air craft in an attempt to keep the Frigates from getting close.

Chase looked to his team's Sergeant. "Take blue team and flank to the left. Carver, Sanchez, you two stay up here and provide cover for us. Rico, Dallas, with me on the right flank."

As four ODSTs began to move down to the left to flank the covenant, Chase led two more to the right while the team's snipers stayed at their higher position with sniper rifles ready.

"Hunter here, we've already reached our target and we're taking her out, get a move on!" Smithy shouted through the radio.

Xxx

"Fire!" Smithy shouted, and two ODSTs fired rockets once again, blowing away a Revenant and a fire team of Grunts trying to reach an abandoned Shade turret.

"Aeso, the Elite!" Smithy pointed to an Elite standing on the upper exterior deck of the AA Gun Five, directing its troops to prepare a defence.

"I've got him!" Genia raised her sniper rifle as several ODSTs rushed down the slope and took cover. Squeezing off one round, she blew the Elite's shields away, and as it realized the danger she had already chambered a second round. It had barely taken three steps and was about to leap off the far side of the deck when she blew a hole through its brain.

"Everybody get down there, now! Watch for Artillery!" Smithy called, firing a grenade from her launcher and landed it right in front of a Ghost, which became a small ball of fire as its engines were compromised and its power source exploded when tons of shrapnel tore it up inside and out.

Xxx

Team Raptor had managed to catch their targets by surprised and had already advanced to the AA gun. With the ODSTs setting up a perimeter outside, Maevor and Ataca went in and cleared away a pair of Jackals guarding the power core. The aliens then fired their assault rifles into the shield around the core until it fell. They tossed a pair of fragmentation grenades in and rushed back out before it detonated.

A pillar of smoke began to rise from the gun as the humans retreated away from it. Suddenly panels blew off, fires started ,and the top segment ceased its automated firing salvos.

"This is Raptor, we got the drop on the enemy and AA Site 3 is disabled!" Maevor shouted as his team rushed to cover in a nearby ditch. "You are clear for bombardment!"

"Copy that Raptor, Kilo 6-2 moving in!" Suddenly a Hornet flew overhead and began to rain down missiles from both its own arsenal and the two marines mounted on the sides of it.

Raptor Team watched as the air craft singlehandedly demolished what was left of the AA gun. Remaining covenant troops began to organize and fired on the air craft.

"Raptor, cover that Hornet!" Maevor barked, raising his assault rifle as Ataca picked off a Jackal with his sniper rifle.

Raptor Team and the Hornet began to wipe out the rest of the Covenant forces ,pushing them back to a road that led deeper into the CDZ. They had all gotten onto a pair of Spirit Dropships which began to pull away, realizing they could not defeat the agile and well armed air craft.

The pilot cheered. "Alright Raptor, looks like you're all clear. Pelicans will move in and give you some vehicles. Your next target is AA Site 6."

"Rodger that Kilo 6-2, we'll sit tight until-" Maevor was cut off when the Hornet exploded, sending the burning remains of the two gunners flying to the ground along with the wreckage. A Banshee shot by, and the Squadron opened fire on it, but it was far gone now.

"This is Raptor, our air support is down!" Maevor shouted as his team took cover. "Get somebody on those AA turrets and see if any of the vehicles still work! Repeat, this is Raptor, Kilo 6-2 is down! We need air support here!" Two more banshees made a fly by over the site and dropped plasma on it.

"Rodger Raptor, November 3-8 is inbound and imminent." A female voice replied. "I see those slimy bastards, hold on."

Suddenly a Falcon shot into view and fired its chin gun while the two gunners fired heavy machine guns from the sides of the VTOL. One Banshee was blown out of the air, and the other futilely fired on the Falcon before joining its companion.

"Thanks November 3-8. Any chance of some Pelicans showing up?" Maevor asked.

"It'll be a few minutes Raptor; I'll cover you until then." November 3-8 responded.

"You might want to keep your guard up then." Ataca said, aiming his rifle to the far horizon and watching several approaching Banshees and Spirits through his rifle scope. "We have company!"

"Engaging!" November 3-8 spun and opened fire, assisted by a pair of Shade turrets operated by ODSTs and an Anti Air Wraith.

Xxx

"AA Site 8 in sight..." Creed whispered.

He was perched on a low cliff, watching the AA Gun below. Several Jackals patrolled around it while a pair of Grunts on ghosts went further out. Several Elites led more Grunt teams around it, and a pair of shade turrets were on the upper deck of it.

"Guard in position." An ODST reported.

"Hold position." Creed ordered. "Wait until their patrols are far enough out."

Part of him doubted he should be taking on an AA Gun's garrison with only one squadron, perhaps because he was distracted from what Halsey had revealed to him and the others.

He remembered every word.

Xxx

**Seven Hours ago (105****th**** hour of Covenant invasion)**

"The Covenant Hierarchy worships their supposed gods, a race of advanced beings who had supposedly 'transcended' the material world according to the covenant writings." Halsey stated. "We have found multiple ruins left behind by this civilization. And these ruins and artefacts seem to be part of the covenant's motivation to capture human worlds." The screen showed various devices labelled with numbers and letters to archive them.

"After the fall of Reach, the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn,_ captained by Jacob Keyes and carrying Spartan 117 had followed some coordinates discovered from such an artefact from Sigma Octanus IV. There, they discovered the largest and perhaps most dangerous relic these forerunners could have left behind." The screen changed. "These images were taken by the _Pillar of Autumn_ several minutes before it was attacked."

Many people began to whisper to each other as they stared in awe at the image. It was of a large ring, with several measurements added to the side of the image.

"This structure possesses a diameter of nearly ten thousand kilometres and is almost twenty two point three kilometres thick, being composed of materials not used by covenant or human designs. The interior side of the ring has an atmosphere and environment not too different from Earth or any other usual colony world." Halsey said. "There are multiple intelligence logs from marine forces from the _Pillar of Autumn_ who survived the deployment to the rings' surface. Spartan 117 assisted with many attacks against Covenant Positions until a mission lead by Captain Keyes went wrong and Spartan 117 was sent to investigate."

The next image showed a view of Spartan 117 exploring the structure where Captain Keyes and his squadron vanished into, and also viewing the visual files of one Private Jenkins. The whispers of curiosity and wonder turned into cries of shock and horror as the humans in the room were exposed to the sight of what the ring world known as Halo had possessed.

The Flood, a race of small parasitic beings which thrived by infecting sentient organisms and turning them into hideous monsters. They saw the combat forms, the carrier forms, the various types that each form took forever species it infected.

"The purpose of these 'Halo' Structures are to contain the Flood for the purpose of research, and if an outbreak occurs they will be manually activated via a user interface to purge the flood of their food," Halsey said. "This is done by activating just one Halo, and as a result activates them all so they may just do so, by eliminating all sentient life within this galaxy."

Creed felt his heart stop, followed by a moment of feeling nauseous as he tried to imagine it: energy shooting across the sky, destroying planets and billions of people with every passing second, and then dimming out faster than a candle being blown out, and leaving nothing but darkness and silence in an empty galaxy.

The very idea of it managed to make him forget the years of training he had in controlling emotions and made him want to puke, or at least ask if he could leave. Nothing had involved having to deal with the possibility of galactic civilization just vanishing as quickly as a person could snap their fingers.

"...Spartan 117 neutralized the ring's firing capability by detonating the engine core of the _Pillar of Autumn_, shattering the ring and eliminating the flood and covenant forces." Halsey finished. "We have suspicions that there are other very functional Halo Rings positioned in similar and very remote regions of space."

"This is possible, as the citadel council has forbidden the activation of Mass Relays for centuries." Curana spoke up. "If they are spread out at certain positions then they could in theory remain undiscovered for centuries."

"Luckily the AI present on the _Pillar of Autumn_, Cortana, managed to extract large amounts of information regarding these rings." The screen showed an image of the galaxy. "We have managed to estimate regions where these rings are and have crossed them with data provided by Specters Curana and Sarius, our new makeshift alien ambassadors."

The image was overlapped with a standard Citadel Navigation Map. The Halo Ring known as 'Installation 04' was once located in the Orion Arm of the galaxy, several others were in every other major spiral arm of the galaxy, spread so as to ensure their twenty five thousand light year firing range could be spread over as much distance as possible. As areas where Halo Rings could be located were highlighted, areas with known Mass Relays were also highlighted.

"Here, in the Outer Arm, that Relay led to a system with no habitable planets according to automated drones sent through when the relay had been activated centuries ago, so nobody would have bothered going there." Maevor stood up and pointed out a relay near a Halo Ring in the Outer Arm.

"And here, one of the systems in the Krogan DMZ," Ataca stood and pointed out the Halo Ring location. "This system was never any interest to the clans, and the mass relay in it had been damaged centuries ago. Back then Krogan weren't able to use too many up to date craft, so its possible that if they were too far from any planets they could have missed it. I doubt they put the few military ships we had left there anyways."

"And here...by the goddess, that's...that's the Galactic Core!" Curana gasped. "Nothing should be able to survive there!"

"The forerunners were quite advanced, I believe it could be within their capabilities to do just that." Halsey replied.

Even when facing the first friendly alien she has ever met in her life the infamous Doctor Catherine Halsey never let anything break that ice cold demeanour of hers or make her shirk her professional standing. Curana had made it clear that she did not like Halsey considering it was because of her that the Spartan II Program was commissioned and by extension Spartan II Omega and Spartan III.

"Theta Outpost was established two years ago when there were signs of a large amount of heat under the area. After examining it to maintain safety regulations for nearby colonies we discovered something big...very big, and when we compared it to the Halo structure data we found the material and designs match. There is a forerunner temple under there and it is very big, and possibly holds something that could change the tide of this war."

"If this is the case then I'm guessing Theta is our true objective." Chase guessed, frowning as he crossed his arms. "This is a lot for some old artefacts doc."

"Artefacts that could be newer weapons or shielding technology, or perhaps even designs for something like a ship." Halsey reasoned. "I wouldn't have recommended we make this operation unless I was certain that this was worth it."

"You were the one who forwarded the command?" Chase asked. "Isn't that a bit above your clearance doc?"

"I forwarded a suggestion to Norris as soon as I landed and he approved." Halsey shrugged. "I knew there were plenty of eager Spartans who were ready to give the Covenant the final blow we need."

She set the recordings back to the main screen. "We need to be quick and take it before the covenant get scared and do something drastic to make sure we don't."

"Oh, and I will have to object to the aliens' involvement in this General, ONI is clamouring for a look at their technology and I wouldn't put it past Colonel Ackerson to try and make an accident happen where some of their Omni Tools or thermal weapons fall into his hands." Halsey added. "I don't want that deluded fool to ruin any relations for the sake of glory like he's tried shutting down my Spartans in the past."

_Her_ Spartans, when she said that it was not as if she was talking about property, but how Curana would address a family member, a friend, or a fellow soldier under her command. Despite Halsey's cold demeanour it was obvious to see she saw every Spartan as one of her own children.

"I've already been made aware of Ackerson's rather ambitious personality, Doctor, and I also made sure I knew every one of the little rat bastard's accomplices and contacts and made sure they got their asses put on the transports to the front lines in orbit or on the ground, anywhere far from where our new friends are." Norris scowled. "If we didn't need him so much I'd shoot him in between the eyes myself."

"Good to know," Halsey said casually. "Well if that has been settled I'll leave you all to look over this as much as you wish."

"Dismissed!" Norris barked.

As the gathered got up to leave, Halsey stopped Nathan and Curana.

"Spectre Curana, Lieutenant Creed," Halsey raised a hand to stop Nathan's question. "I looked you up in the database, you and the rest of Omega Team stood out like a red grunt in the middle of a platoon of Brutes. I must admit I'm rather impressed by your record." She paused and leaned forward so they could hear. "I know I can trust you two, you're not like the rest of the people here."

"How so?" Creed asked, his voice so low only she and Curana heard it.

"When I look at them, I see copies of my Spartans, a cheap but worthwhile imitation. When I look at the aliens I see obedient and loyal soldiers...but when I look at you I see an impulsive yet brave young man, and when I look at her I see she obviously fits a similar category." Halsey explained. "Ackerson came here, he had Admiral Patterson and Admiral Winters leave his arrival...silent, and I think he's aiming for something. He may be contributing to the war effort enough that he's saved a few billion, but he wants to get the glory of destroying the covenant by any means necessary. Be careful, and tell nobody, not even Norris, if he finds out he'll go on a man hunt to get Ackerson put in his place. If he approaches either of you two...this could be a big chance."

"For what?" Curana asked suspiciously. "To catch him in the act red handed?"

"No, despite his hostility I don't hate him and I won't have him killed out of petty rivalry, we still need his Spec Ops Projects." Halsey replied. "It's a chance to make him back off, intimidation. Make him forget about trying to mess up any small details about this operation. If he does, hundreds die but he justifies it by saving millions, the only difference is that more people than necessary die and he gets the glory of victory."

"And if he doesn't then you get the glory?" Curana asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I've never exposed myself to the public and I have never taken credit for any operations. If this goes off, General Norris gets his award after the planet is saved." Halsey said, shaking her head. "I have watched several audio and visual logs from security monitors and I know you don't like me Spectre Curana, and I admit I don't expect to be too popular if the truth of the Spartan Project goes public, but I did what I had to for the sake of saving humanity and look at the result: tens of billions saved, some colonies even saved, millions of marines spared from unnecessary deaths. I won't say the ends justify the means, but I won't apologize for what I have done."

She looked down a bit. "It hasn't been easy for me either, to go about what I've done and knowing that it was me. Remembering the site of seventy five children, so innocent and unknowing brought into a harsh world and having to hear that they have died. At first I kept myself professional and never allowed myself to feel pity, but as the years dragged on...I couldn't help but hate myself for what I had done. And now almost all of them are dead. I can even remember their names." She sighed.

"Samuel, Joshua, James, Jorge, Walter, Ethan, Elliot, Sally, Theresa, Logan, Robert, Delilah, Vincent, Leonard, Helen, Thomas, Theodore, Owen, Christopher, Randall, Marie, Alex, Sean, Harold, Sheridan, Jason, Susan, Ellen, Dorothy, Alice, Jerome, Malcolm, Selene, Leah, Jacob, Luke, Jasmine, Ivan, Dominic, Scott, Rose, Kurt, Damien, Michael, Ezekiel, Nathaniel, Ashtoreth, Gabriel, Daniel, Caroline, Marcus, Peter, Joanna, David, Solomon, Arthur, and Kara." She sighed, and for the first time seemed to almost show a hint of emotion in her face. "Fifty Seven children dead or missing, seven more survived the past few decades after being mutilated and crippled by my augmentations. I can't even look them in the eye if I ever see them."

"Reach must have been hard for you." Nathan said sympathetically.

Nodding a bit, she continued. "I had front row seats to see just how many I had lost." She sighed. "That's enough now Lieutenant...I let myself stray a bit far this time. You have an invasion to do and I'll be following behind with several of my own soldiers."

As she walked away, Curana looked at Nathan. "Do you think she means...?"

"I saw six of them arrive with her." He replied coldly. "This is going to be one messed up mission."

Xxx

**UNSC **_**Legionnaire**_

**On route to CDZ for active combat**

**Present Time**

Dr Halsey sat in the room assigned to her, tapping away at her computer. "Two AA sites have been disabled already."

"I still don't feel comfortable standing here ma'am." Spartan II Frederick said as he stood before her, clad in standard dark green MJOLNIR armour while William, Kelly, Linda, Lee, and Isaac were gearing up behind him.

"These Omega Spartans are not too different from you or the rest of the Spartans, Frederick." Catherine said, not looking up at him. "They will get the job done."

"Doctor Halsey," A marine guard stepped into the room. "Captain Archer has a Pelican on standby for when the push to Theta is complete, you're leaving in sixty minutes ma'am."

"Thank you Sergeant," Halsey dismissed the marine and looked at Fred just as AA Site 8 went off line. "AA Sites Three, Four, and Eight are disabled. Next Targets are, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve."

Xxx

((a/n: This is just for reference so anybody doesn't get mixed up and hopefully I don't get mixed up, I'll put up this list from time to time for certain things.))

**PROGRESS OF UNSC INVASION**

**AA SITE 1: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 2: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY BLUE)**

**AA SITE 3: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 4: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE FIVE: ACTIVE**

**AA SITE SIX: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY RAPTOR)**

**AA SITE SEVEN: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY STRIKER)**

**AA SITE EIGHT: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE NINE: ACTIVE**

**AA SITE TEN: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY HUNTER)**

**AA SITE ELEVEN: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY CROW)**

**AA SITE TWELVE: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY GUARD)**

Xxx

Watching as a Falcon demolished the remnants of AA Gun 8, Nathan watched as a Pelican dropped a fire team of marines to replace the pair of ODSTs he had lost to the attack. "Our next target is AA Gun 12, we'll need to go a few miles but we'll be out of these hills by the time we're done."

"Good thing the fly boys left us a gift." One Marine chuckled, looking at the two Warthogs that had been left for them. One was a Rocket Launcher variant while the other was a regular machine gun variant.

"It'll be a fifteen minute drive, more if we run into Covenant, so nobody get sleepy on me, I know leatherheads tend to get bored easily." Nathan said, getting into the driver's seat of the Rocket Warthog.

"Aw you don't give us any credit El-Tee." A PFC said, climbing up and manning the rocket turret.

Guard Team roared off into the hills.

Xxx

"AA Site Ten is inaccessible through ground routes, they must have air lifted the pieces in and put them together." Smithy said, looking at the AA Site within the distance. "Legend Oh Six this is Hunter, Ten is in site and hiking is a no go, I'll need an air lift, Falcons preferably."

"Rodger Hunter we have a pair of Falcons on route as we speak." Archer replied. "And good work so far, enemy AA is down thirty three percent and we're air lifting more teams behind enemy lines, but we can't establish a foot hold yet, that plateau might be our break."

"I'll make sure it's nice and ready for the ground pounders when your boys get here." Smithy said dryly.

"I'd suggest you hurry, Hannibal (Halsey and Spartan Entourage) will be setting up there and is inbound and imminent." Archer advised.

Just as she finished a pair of Falcons flew in low and hovered in place, lowering down for the Spartan, Turian, and the four remaining Humans of Hunter Team. Climbing aboard, Smithy and Genia took the turrets of one Falcon while two of their squad mates from Hunter took control of the other. The last two ODSTs split to one Falcon each and then they were off.

"Be advised, looks like they have Shades and Triple A covering it from every angle." The Pilot of Smithy's Pelican said.

"That won't be a problem." Genia replied. "You worry about being hit; we'll worry about hitting them first."

"Copy that," The pilot grinned, already liking this alien's confidence.

Xxx

End of chapter

Man I know how to complicate a simple invasion. O_O Well, let's hope I can get this story done before next year. ^_^


	12. Chapter 12: CDZ Invasion Part Two

Mass Effect Wars

You'll see hints as to your favourite pairing n this...well one of my favourites anyways. .

And I made an error with the list of targeted guns...Gun 5 was destroyed, I totally forgot.

Xxx

Chapter Twelve: CDZ Invasion Part Two

**Citadel Landing Zone Alpha**

**54.6 miles north of CDZ**

**112****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

In total, over two hundred soldiers had been deployed onto Stronghold along with several gunships and APCs. The citadel forces occupied an abandoned human bunker as a command post and set up anti air turrets and had soldiers with rocket launchers set up on the perimeter. Garrus and his team were in the bunker where a makeshift FTL Communications Link was set up, with Executor Pallin on the other side of the link.

"The fleet is almost in range Captain Vakarian, we'll be in striking distance of the covenant fleet in twenty six hours." Pallin said. "Just hold down the fort for one day and we'll be able to relieve you and the humans."

"The human fleet is making another push into covenant lines and their platforms have managed to destroy seventeen covenant vessels within the last hour." Tali, who had once again become the de facto intelligence officer said. "It looks like this invasion has reached the top of its arch."

"What the hell does that mean?" One of the officers asked.

"In an arch, you first rise, you reach the top, and then you fall back down." Wrex spoke up from where he was sitting on a crate, sharpening a large knife that was half as long as a Volus is tall. "The rise is when the invasion begins, you begin to settle in and proceed to attack and weaken your enemy, take key objectives, sometimes get repelled on some fronts or in the worst case scenario you never even touch the ground and you're stuck in orbit fighting for the right to land."

He looked over the blade, seeing his reflection in it. "The top is when there is a massive battle, the deciding factor that could decide the invader's capacity to maintain whatever foothold he has. It can be the push either side needs to begin forcing the enemy back. The humans are invading the largest covenant territory on this planet, if they destroy every ship and emplacement here they could allocate their ships and resources towards smaller groups and then back towards their orbital defence. After that, the arch of descent begins."

He sheathed the blade, hanging it on his back. "It's where one or both side will begin to run short on their resources and throw what is left into only the most important battles to eliminate what little there is that is tethering the other side to the battle field. Eliminate enough covenant infantry, you cripple their invasion. Eliminate enough covenant ships...you stop it entirely." He smirked. "I think the humans might do a good enough job of that."

"Sir, our advanced scouts have spotted a fire fight at a human sensor outpost near the northern edge of the CDZ." A Salarian STG Operator said as he rushed into the bunker. "The humans appear outnumbered, a small squadron at least and the covenant are hitting the base with an entire combat company."

"Get two gunships and a troop transport ready, I'll lead a counter assault, this might be our best way to introduce ourselves until we can contact the Spectres." Garrus grabbed his sniper rifle.

"Excellent, gain humans' trust, show of good will, show we're with Spectres, yes, yes." Mordin nodded. "Will stay here, continue working on communications, contact Spectres, contact Human High Command afterwards."

"Wrex, Tali, you're with me." Garrus said. "Get first platoon and load up, we're heading out right now!"

"Good luck Captain, I'll see you in twenty six-wait...twenty five hours." Pallin said. "Executor Pallin, over and out."

As the image of the Commanding Officer faded, Garrus, Wrex, Tali, and thirty more soldiers prepared to be deployed.

Xxx

"Dobkin's down!" Anton shouted, sliding a clip into his DMR.

Spotting the still form of the now deceased Sergeant, Shepard shouted. "Tighten up the perimeter! Anton, we have hunters, get those rocket launchers on them! Williams, Connor, take out those Zealots!"

As Anton fired off a pair of rockets, Connor and Williams fired sniper rifle from the top of the building. Barnes was firing his assault rifle from right next to Shepard, taunting the covenant as he sprayed a trio of Grunts. "Yeah, fuck yeah! I'm gonna kill all of you-" He was cut off as a single beam shot through his head and splattered Shepard with blood.

"Barnes!" She shouted as his headless corpse fell over. "Shit, Barnes is down!"

"We're getting slaughtered here!" Connor shouted, sliding a fresh clip into his sniper rifle. "I'm down to four clips for my sniper rifle, how about you Williams?"

"I have six spares left." Ashley Williams replied before she flew a Brute's head off with a single shot and then picked off a pair of Elites.

"Anton, go see if we have any responses yet." Shepard said to Anton as the wave of covenant died down and several Jackals and a trio of elites watched the humans from the gates of the base.

"Aye ma'am." Anton rushed inside. "I don't have anything...but I do have access to the radar and it says we have three unknown craft inbound, fifteen miles and closing fast."

"That must be our reinforcements," Shepard knew the Covenant never deviated from their design of using plasma technology, and the sensors of any decent UNSC Base or ship could pin point the large amount of energy used in any vehicle or craft the covenant had. "Just hold out a little longer Shadow!"

"Aye ma'am!" Connor picked off one of the Elites and sent the rest running for cover. "Another wave incoming!"

Xxx

**CDZ, UNSC-COVENANT COMBAT ZONE**

**HUNTER SQUADRON ON APPROACH TO COVENANT AA SITE 10**

The two Falcons dodged multiple plasma shots, raining down projectiles on covenant positions as they made several passes, strafing to the left as their gunners mowed down multiple covenant infantry.

"Alright red team, drop down and we'll cover you!" Genia said as she mowed down a Brute that tried to aim its 'Brute Launcher' at the Falcons when they made another pass over the plateau.

"We copy; this is where we get off!" The second Falcon hovered over the AA Gun and dropped down a pair of cables.

One ODST slid down the cables with a shotgun in hand. He blasted away an Elite as he landed and unclipped himself. "Clear!"

The Second ODST came down with an assault rifle in hand and fired a burst into a pair of Grunts who came rushing up to the deck from inside the AA Gun. One fell while the other fired its needler up. The shards flew past the ODST, and instead struck the third ODST as he began to clip himself in. He cried out and fell as a trio of shards buried themselves into him. His DMR accidently fired off three shots as he fell and hit the ground with a 'thud'.

"Allan's down!" One of the two marines, a Specialist shouted.

His companion, another specialist looked at him. "I'll go check on him, you clear the inside!"

"Alright! FRAG OUT!" The first ODST tossed a grenade down the ramp into the middle of a group of confused Grunts and Jackals that were blown away. An Elite came up next, only to meet its end at the man's shotgun.

The other Specialist leaped down from the deck and landed in a crouch, using the balls of his feet when he landed and got up, firing his rifle into a Jackal that was perched over his fallen comrade. The Jackal fell with nine 7.62 mm bullets in its chest and skull. Crouching over the wounded marine, the Specialist checked his pulse, taking off his helmet. "Specialist Allan! Do you hear me?"

Specialist Allan groaned in response. "Fuckin...hate...grunts..."

"Allan's WIA, we need a med evac!" The specialist said. "I can't cover him forever!" He dragged Specialist Allan to cover, firing his pistol in one hand.

"Pilot, bring us down!" Smithy said.

"Aye ma'am," Positioning over the fallen ODST and his protector, the pilot deployed a pair of cables that Smithy and the final ODST latched themselves to.

They landed and fired on some Grunts who tried to move in on the wounded specialist Allan. His guardian, Specialist Jones stood up and met them. "Thanks!"

Genia dropped down next to them and raised her pistol, putting three bullets into a Jackal marksman on the deck of the AA Gun.

"Rodgers, how are things going in there?" Jones asked while the ODST Sergeant who went down with Smithy began to tend to Allan.

"It's all clear, give me a minute and...got it!" Specialist Rodgers shouted as he managed to lower the core's shield. "Last one!" He tossed the fragmentation grenade in and rushed out of the AA Gun as the core detonated.

With the gun disabled, Smithy yelled. "Hunter, AA Site 10 is disabled! We have wounded and we need some more fire power!"

"Good timing Hunter, we'll handle it now." Suddenly a pair of Pelicans suddenly rose into sight fro mthe edge of the plateau. Their chin guns flared to life, ripping apart turrets and small vehicles and infantry while the humans and Genia took cover.

After twenty seconds of straight firing, Doctor Halsey added over the radio. "This is Hannibal, AA Site 10 is secure, move in occupation force Legend Oh Six."

"Rodger that, deploying 2nd platoon to initiate occupation of site 10." Captain Archer replied as both Pelicans set down.

A team of ten marines got out of one, while four got out of the other and stood aside as six massive Spartan IIs climbed out along with Doctor Catherine Halsey.

"Good work Lieutenant, I see High Command did a good job with the Omegas." Catherin said nonchalantly as she passed Smithy. "You have another Pelican inbound to take you to your next objective, I hear the jamming generators are driving ONI's on sight commander up the wall."

Smithy nodded, standing aside for the six Spartan guards. "Yes ma'am-"

Suddenly a plasma shot exploded against the ground. The two pelicans, engines still active managed to take off and manoeuvre away from the shots as two Phantoms began to close in on the plateau.

"Shit! Site 10 is under assault!" Smithy slid a grenade into her launcher. "Get Hannibal inside!"

Fred scooped Halsey up while Will loaded his rocket launcher. Kelly helped carry the wounded specialist Allan into the AA gun, Lee and Isaac joined the scattered marine squadrons, and Linda picked off one of the drop ships' gunners, decreasing the amount of plasma that was focused on the stranded humans.

"Tell command to cancel that extra pelican." Smithy said to Fred. "I have a different way to get to my next target." She looked at the Phantoms, and Fred got the picture.

"Cover Spartan 040," Fred said, speaking to his team through the Spartans' private link.

"Just call me Smithy." Smithy grinned under her helmet.

Xxx

Curana slammed the Elite into its two grunt underlings and sent the mflying into a wall. She nodded to the three marines she placed in charge of eliminating the AA gun and they rushed inside, unchallenged. Ten seconds later, the shields around the core fell and a single grenade was left inside before the three ODSTs rushed back outside.

As the core detonated, Curana spoke into her radio. "AA site 2 is down."

"Good job, your last target is AA Site 9." Captain Archer said.

"I think I know how we can get there." Talo said, joining Curana and her three soldiers with the rest of the squadron. He pointed to the one intact machine left in the small encampment: a Covenant Spirit Drop ship.

Curana smiled. "I like how you think Mr Serath, but can you even fly that?"

"In the flotilla you need to know how to adapt or you die either from an accident of your own doing or during your pilgrimage." Talo replied, securing his assault rifle. "Trust me, I've handled much more difficult things."

"I'd suggest you allow me to pilot that, Space Born." A voice said over the radio before a Falcon flew over head. It lowered itself down and let off a trio of marines and surprisingly a large Elite clad in black armour.

"Fersa!" Curana shouted over the roar of the VTOL's engines. "They let you out?"

"After much interrogation and my information paying off by allowing them to organize this operation, yes." Fersa nodded.

"So you're partially why General Norris accepted Doctor Halsey's proposal." Talo guessed.

"I provided the location of the twelve artillery guns, the zealot carrier, and other troop movements along with covenant communication frequencies." Fersa admitted. "After this allowed them to destroy several capital ships, they chose to give me the benefit of the doubt, knowing the Prophets would not intentionally sabotage their own invasion to such an extent."

"Your prophets never needed espionage before then." Curana said. "Nathan had the same conclusion about us."

"I see the Spartan and I share a similar form of logical investigation then." Fersa nodded as the team proceeded towards the Phantom.

"Blue here, we have a new pilot and he'll fly us right to Site 9." Curana said into her radio.

Xxx

**PROGRESS OF UNSC INVASION**

**AA SITE 1: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 2: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 3: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 4: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 5: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 6: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY RAPTOR)**

**AA SITE 7: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY STRIKER)**

**AA SITE 8: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 9: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY BLUE)**

**AA SITE 10: DESTROYED**

**AA SITE 11: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY CROW)**

**AA SITE 12: ACTIVE (TARGETED BY GUARD)**

Xxx

Smithy dragged a wounded marine behind the wrecked Wraith that served as their cover. Passing a clip to Specialist Jones, she slid another into her rifle and fired on the advancing covenant. The marines were holding the perimeter around the wrecked AA Gun so far, but were slowly losing ground.

"Eleven oh clock, high!" Smithy shouted to Genia, who adjusted her sniper rifle and shot a Jackal Sniper who tried to fire from the Spirit Drop ship.

"Twelve, level!" Mowing down a pair of grunts with two bursts from her rifle, Smithy pointed out an Elite with a plasma sword charging the human lines.

Adjusting her rifle again and chambering a round, the Turian blew the elite's shields away. Not having time to reload, she dropped her rifle as the elite leaped over the wrecked ghost she was crouched behind and called on her Biotics, catching the Elite in mid air and sending it flying back across the plateau. She crouched down and called on her biotics once more, picking up pieces of wreckage and even covenant soldiers and tossing them to the far end of the plateau. Several fell to their deaths while others managed to cling to the edge.

The Spartans began to push the covenant back, leading the marines behind them and soon were retaking lost ground.

"Watch the left flank! Spartans, advance and take out the Elites!" Smithy called ,expertly leading her squadron.

But suddenly her armour's sensors picked up something coming fast. She called out. "Incoming, get down!"

Pushing a marine into cover, she slammed her fist into the ground and locked down her armour, forming a powerful shield over herself. Suddenly a Banshee flew into sight and strafed her position with fuel rod projectiles, blowing away everything around her. But when it cleared, she was unharmed. Unlocking her armour, she got to her feet as the Banshee circled around for another strafing run.

"Take that out!" She shouted, but before anybody could raise their weapons a missile flew from above and the Banshee was reduced to scrap metal.

Two Falcons and two Pelicans began to take position over the Plateau, raining down missiles and bullets on the covenant. One Pelican lowered and dropped a Scorpion Tank and a squadron of soldiers. As soon as the last covenant soldier fell, Smithy looked back to where Doctor Halsey came out of the AA Gun structure.

"Excellent work Lieutenant," She said. "I'll leave you to complete your mission now."

"Yes doctor," Smithy nodded and went towards another Falcon that hand just landed.

Gathering her team, she prepared to move out.

Xxx

"Target locked." The pilot of Hunter 6-6 said. "Firing."

The Spirit Drop ship was blown out of the sky, as were the next two Phantoms.

Shadow Team looked up as two Citadel Gunships flew over the base, raining down shots on the covenant. A troop transport let out sixteen soldiers led by Garrus, Tali, and Wrex.

"Uh...did we have this many aliens helping us?" Connor asked from where he was sitting just inside the base door next to Ashley, recovering from a plasma burn to his chest.

"I...don't think so." Shepard answered as she watched the aliens clean up the remaining covenant.

As soon as the last fleeing Grunt took three to the head, Garrus turned to the outpost. "This is Captain Garrus Vakarian of the Citadel Military, we have come to lend assistance!"

"More survivors from the spectres' ship?" Williams asked.

"No...they didn't bring vehicles, especially gun ships." Jane replied. "Cover me."

Stepping out, Jane slowly approached the squadron of aliens as they spread out and set u pa perimeter. "Lieutenant Jane Shepard, ODST, Shadow Squadron."

"We picked up your distress beacon Lieutenant," Garrus said. "Glad to see we arrived just in time."

"Where did you all come from? The spectres barely had forty able bodied soldiers left of their compliment and they're all up in orbit." Jane said. "And they certainly never brought their own gunships with them."

"We didn't come with the Seraph Alpha Scout Craft," Garrus secured his rifle to his back. "We came with the relief fleet."

"Relief...fleet?" Those were the two most beautiful words Jane Shepard had ever heard.

"We're the first wave, and we've come to help handle your...problem." Garrus said.

"If I hadn't only just met you and you didn't look like an Elite I could kiss you." Jane shook her head.

"I'll take that as a compliment, now come with us." Garrus said. "We'll be contacting your commanding officers soon so we can begin a more active approach to this."

"Thank you," She helped Connor up while Anton and Williams came out of the base on their own.

The Citadel soldiers found themselves under fire by another small wave of covenant. Suppressing the charge, they each fell back to the transport one by one and let the gunships cover the transport as it rose up and away from the base.

"Well, the covenant haven't impressed me much yet." Wrex growled. "Their soldiers are weak."

Jane ignored the Krogan-she had already seen Urdnot Ataca enough to stop being surprised, and Ataca was bigger than Wrex anyways. But when she saw Tali, this drew her attention. Talo'Serath was the only Quarian that came with the Spectres. "I met one of your people, a Specialist named Talo'Serath."

"You saw Tao'Serath?" Tali's head snapped up. "Where is he?"

"By now I'd guess he might be helping with the assault the UNSC might be conducting by now." Anton spoke up.

"The humans have been attacking covenant lines for a full hour now." Garrus said. "They've deployed six teams to take out key anti air sites."

"I guess we can count on your friend being in one of them." Wrex looked at Tali.

"You know him?" Jane asked.

"We are old friends, but I was sent here by our government to ensure his safe return. His father is one of our leading Admirals." Tali said. "Talo'Serath took a big step to try and secure the Migrant Fleet's future, the least we could do was come and save him."

"Migrant Fleet?" Jane raised an eye brow.

"You were not told about it?" Tali asked.

"No, Talo'Serath only spoke to one of the Spartans from Omega Company." Jane replied.

"Spartans...I heard that phrase being used several times." Garrus sat across from Jane. "Care to give us insight on what makes them so special?"

"Uh...that's above my pay grade," Shepard lied.

Xxx

"Alright, commence artillery strike!" Maevor shouted.

Moments later, several shells demolished the AA Gun. Maevor, Ataca and their last three marines came out of hiding.

"AA Site Six is cleared," Maevor said.

"Raptor you have new orders," Archer's face appeared in Maevor's visor as she opened a link to him. "The other teams besides you and Guard are still taking out their objectives."

A moment later Nathan Creed joined the conversation. "We just rigged AA Gun Number Eight with some charges, give us a second..."

An explosion shattered the silence of the valley, and Maevor saw a pillar of smoke in the distance.

"There we go!" Nathan shouted.

"Guard Leader, Raptor Leader, Raptor 2, I'm sending a Pelican to pick the three of you up. Leave your teams to secure the area while the militia move in an secure the region. The covenant are pulling back, but the jamming generators are scrambling any messages sent between units over seventeen kilometres into the CDZ." Archer said. "We have confirmed three key generators in the area. The nearest one is in a small town seven clicks ahead of your teams."

Maevor watched as an image of the town appeared on his visor.

"Cawdor settlement, used to have seven hundred people in it." Archer said. "Our scouts aren't seeing any activity, but the Jammer is definitely located there. Head there, and disable it."

"We copy Legend Oh Six," Creed replied. "I see the bird already."

Maevor and Ataca separated from the fire team of ODST and watched as a Pelican came flying over the hills. When the hatch opened up, only Lieutenant Creed stood to greet them. "Welcome to Air Stronghold!"

Climbing aboard, Ataca looked at his rifle. "I have run out of ammunition for my rifle."

"Here, try this on for size." Creed took an SRS99 Sniper Rifle down from one of the racks and passed it to the Krogan, who caught the large rifle in his hands and looked over it. "Four round clips, can blow an Elites head off from over a mile away, and where we're going you'll be using it a lot."

He passed Ataca a magazine as the Pelican began to take off. Sliding the clip in and chambering a round, Ataca examined the rifle. "We'll see just how powerful it is."

As the hatch closed behind the trio, another Pelican dropped off a Warthog and a squadron of marines to support the fire team that was left behind.

Sitting down, Creed opened a case he had set on the floor. "Omega Camp sent us some gifts."

He pulled out a belt of knives. "Push knives, good for taking out Jackals without wasting time getting your main blade out." He then revealed a larger blade and passed it to Ataca. "Kukri knife, perfect for cutting out an Elite's throat in a direct attack. I knew a Third Generation Spartan who recommended it to me, some shotgun obsessed guy serving with a 'Commander Carter'."

He then passed a bowie knife to Maevor. "That's a Bowie knife, favoured blade for any soldier. Its easier to fit than that big ass butcher's blade crossed with a machete you have."

Looking at the blade he had gotten while a part of the Turian Military, Maevor said. "It can be hard to get out in a rush."

"And finally...something I really like." Nathan began to assemble something.

Setting a large ammunition pack on the floor, he began to hook it up to what was slowly coming together to be what looked like a portable version of the human forces' mounted machine gun. Connecting an ammo belt to it, he placed the ammunition storage pack on his back and secured it there. "One thousand rounds of pure destructive force my friends."

"I don't suppose there's a fancy gun for me, is there?" Maevor asked.

"Take a look." Nathan replied.

Maevor took out a covenant weapon similar to the Fuel Rod gun. It had to be braced against his shoulder and was bulky.

"This baby launches plasma explosives and locks onto a target. The more you hold the trigger, the more rounds you chamber. This can take out an Elite or any vehicle." Nathan informed the Turian. "When we land we'll be just outside the settlement. Ataca, you should take to the high ground and give us cover while Maevor and I head in and search for the beacon."

The Krogan replied by tapping a command into his gauntlet and had his helmet fold up and over his head. His voice was filtered as he stared at the Spartan through a set of red tinged lenses. "I'll keep you covered."

"We are on approach to Grid 17 by 54, this is where the Jammer is located. All long wave radio transmissions will be jammed from this point on, and when your within a mile of it even your radios will be out." The Pilot informed them.

"Let us worry about that," Maevor said. "Just make sure you don't get shot down, we don't want to hike back to our lines."

"Got it," The human shrugged. "Alright just over this next hill and it'll be a straight flight to- WHOA SHIT!" The Pelican lurched as the pilot went around a covenant Scarab! The valley had seven Scarabs advancing with several Infantry Platoons accompanying them. Looking up, they began to open fire, several shots clipping the Pelican.

"Damn, this is heavy!" The Pilot shouted.

"Aft Thrusters are down!" The Co Pilot cried out. "We won't be able to turn on a dime anymore!"

The drop ship jolted once again, and one of the two crew specialists accompanying the pilots groaned. "Ah shit, I think they almost hit our fuel li-" The Pelican tilted to the left and began to descend. "CRAP!"

"Brace yourselves we're going down!" The Pilot shouted.

Nathan locked his armour down while Maevor and Ataca held onto their seats.

The Pelican landed in a river. The canopy shattered and the cockpit began to flood. Maevor was the first to regain his balance and rushed to the door and open it, letting the four humans and several tons of water through.

"We have to get out of here, blow the hatch!" Creed shouted.

Ataca went to the aft of the compartment, the water up to his thighs and climbing fast. He reached under and hit the emergency release switch. The aft hatch blew open just after the human crew got their helmets secured.

Afterwards Nathan didn't hear anything except his own breathing. He got up and looked to the opening where he saw the crew climbing out desperately. He followed, dragging his chain gun with him. The Pelican had landed in a rather shallow section of the river, just enough to almost entirely submerge the crashed Pelican.

The seven fighters managed to get to the shore.

The four humans were relatively fine, but their armour and clothes were soaked, their radios fried, and only one of them had a working handgun. Maevor and Ataca's armours were air tight, so the water hadn't affected them, and Creed's armour was likewise water proof. Checking their weapons, Creed was glad to see his Chain Gun still fired-he had fired off two rounds to test it; his SMG, assault rifle, and shotgun also worked. Ataca's rifle seemed to be fine, but Creed wasn't sure about Maevor's Spartan Laser. The Turian shrugged upon hearing the Spartan inquire about his weapon's condition. "We'll find out when we meet the covenant."

"Pilots, stay here and remain hidden," Creed turned to the crew. "We'll move on and take out the jammer. Wait until the evac Pelican shows up."

Nodding, the Pilot slid a clip into his pistol and chambered a round. "Aye sir."

Nathan, Maevor, and Ataca left the river behind and began to move towards a narrow trail through the rocks. They heard explosions in the distance, the main battle between the UNSC and covenant armies being only three miles away or so now. They even saw the shapes of air craft once in a while.

Nathan came out onto a cliff and stopped. "Here we are."

The town was spread out over two or three miles of housings and several small clusters of buildings used for businesses. Nathan looked to his left and saw a path along the cliff face leading downwards. He looked to Ataca and Maevor.

Ataca crouched and peered through the scope of his rifle. "It looks clear from here."

Nodding, Nathan began to move along the path with Maevor behind him. The two made sure not to stir any rocks or make any more noise than necessary. It was a silent walk to the ground.

Once they were in a small field that had some sports equipment left scattered around it, Nathan moved forward, sweeping the flat plane with his chain gun while Maevor followed him, remaining slightly to his right and covering an overturned truck.

"Lieutenant, I have movement by the school up ahead." Ataca said.

"Sarius, cover me, I'll check it out." Creed moved towards the two story school building up ahead. It was meant to teach just under fifty children, most of them teenagers now. It was a rectangular cube with a more rounded shape for its second floor. The second floor's walls had windows that could allow occupants to look in any direction.

A door was left open, the power was out. Setting his machine gun down and disconnecting the ammo pack, he pulled out his SMG and moved into the building while Maevor stayed outside the door to secure the back of the school.

Moving inside a small gymnasium, he saw three bodies, all of them colonial militia. He saw several dead Grunts also. One of the men had been killed by a plasma sword through his gut.

When he heard a 'squeak' behind him he spun and found himself aiming in the face of a young girl who had opened a hatch built into a wall behind some benches. She stared at him with wide, frightened eyes. She had several other children behind her.

"Shit." He lowered his SMG, holstering it and raising one hand to show he meant no harm.

He took off his helmet and sat into his radio. "I found some survivors, they're students. Stay outside, I don't want you scaring them."

"And the seven foot tall super soldier hasn't already done that?" Maevor asked.

Ignoring him, Nathan crouched down to their level. "It's alright, I'm here to help."

"Sie sind einer jener Helden mein Vater erzählt?" The girl said.

Nathan managed to identify the language as German. Most of the communities in this part of Stronghold were dominantly German, luckily Omegas were taught the ten most common human languages when they had barely started training. The Spartan IIs were taught Hungarian at first since Reach had been mostly inhabited by people of Hungarian Ancestry and just under half of the seven hundred million there had spoken Hungarian instead of English. But Stronghold had more variety to it, so Nathan had German pounded into his head after Danish and Finnish.

She had asked him if he was one of the heroes her father spoke of.

"Ja, ich bin." He replied with a small smile. "Sie alle sprechen sie Deutsch?" (Yes, I am. Do you all speak German?)

"Wir wollen...sind die Eindringlinge gegangen?" A young boy no older than the girl asked. (We do...are the invaders gone?)

"Ich weiß nicht, aber ich gehe hin und überprüfen. Bleib hier." Nathan replied. (I do not know, but I'm going to go and check. Stay here.)

"Was, wenn sie zurück kommen für uns?" The girl asked. (What if they come back for us?)

"Thre werden Soldaten bald hier sein, dann werden sie dich beschützen. Vertrauen Sie mir." Nathan assured them. (There will be soldiers here soon. They will protect you. Trust me.)

"Who are you?" One boy asked in plain English. The boy was no older than ten at least.

Nathan stared at them for a second. "Call me Nate."

"Goodbye Nate," The boy smiled and waved in farewell.

Fighting off a smile, the Spartan said. "Go on, get back in there, I'll come back for you all later." Nathan gently herded them back into the hidden compartment and shut the door.

Placing his helmet on, he sighed. "I'm not good with kids."

"I checked the perimeter, everything looks clear." Maevor reported. "Keep checking the school for survivors, I'll go and look at a nearby fuel station."

"I copy," Nathan grabbed his chain gun from outside and proceeded to look through the school.

He came to a locked door in his search. Setting his chain gun down, he knocked on it. "UNSC! Öffnen sie die tür!" (Open the door!)

His motion tracker detected movement on the other side of the door, and a man in his mid twenties opened the door. "Eine spartanische? Gott sei Dank!" (A Spartan? Thank God!)

Nathan saw almost twenty survivors in the room.

"Bleiben Sie hier, werden andere Soldaten bald kommen und dich hier raus." Nathan said gently. "Und es gibt einige Kinder Versteck in der Turnhalle, holen sie."

(remain here, more soldiers will arrive and get you out of here. And there are some children hiding in the gym, go get them.)

Nodding, the Teacher whispered to another adult in the room as Nathan picked up his chain gun and moved on.

He ended up finding that all of the students and teachers had survived thanks to the colonial militia stalling the covenant until they could hide. The covenant hadn't been interested in attacking a school, but preferred to hit the militia base and armoury and government building. Nearly thirty other civilians had also hidden in the school, resulting in a total of ninety four survivors accounted for.

"I have ninety four accounted for," Creed said as he exited the building. "Raptor Leader, how's the fuel station?"

"It's clean." Maevor said. "I also found a Warthog here we can use."

"I'll meet you there." Creed said.

He took cautious steps through the streets of the town, watching every alley and roof top near him. "Ataca, can you still see me?"

"Ne...ve." The Krogan responded static blocking out parts of his speech. "My ra...is acti...signal bad...ing to rendezvous...confirm?"

"Confirm, rendezvous at fuel station?" Creed asked.

"Affirma..." Ataca replied.

"The jammer is definitely here, proceed with caution." Creed said.

And then not a second later he turned a corner into an alley and came face to face with a rather stunned Grunt in silver armour. They stared at each other with wide eyes (both of their faces were hidden by their helmets), and Creed whispered. "Oh shit."

Xxx

Curana, Talo and their team watched over a trio of Grunts, an injured Jackal and an injured Elite they had taken prisoner. Fersa was watching over the team from above with the Phantom.

"Good job Blue," Curana looked up as a Falcon came down, carrying Scar, Genia and Smithy. "But you're kind of slow, we had our last towers down ten minutes ago. Don't be ashamed though, Chase is still finishing up the last tower."

"What of Teams Guard and Raptor?" Curana asked.

"They're already heading into the CDZ to take out one of the jammers. We're heading for another one." Smithy replied. "Climb in."

As the Falcon took off, accompanied by two more carrying three marines each, Captain Archer once again contacted them. "Alright, Team Striker just took out the last tower and Striker Leader has regrouped with Sierra 4-8. They're leading a charge up Bestia Trail to attack a covenant battalion in Salvador Valley. I got a report from SATCOM when one of our visual scanner satellites in orbit spotted Raptor and Guard Leaders go down. Their Pelican crash landed but they all made it out and they have proceeded towards the settlement where Jammer 3 is located. That valley is where they were hit, if we want to advance we need to take it out."

"We're ready to take any suggestions ma'am." Chase said over the link from several miles away.

"Legend Oh Six will hit the valley with a bombardment and allow Pelicans and Falcons to move in for missiles bombardments." Archer replied. "Meanwhile, Striker will proceed to seize and control Hostile AA Gun 13 and push that Carrier into view of Olympus with help from Panther 4-3 and Gallows 5-7. We're also committing three squadrons of Longswords and even got the General to give up a pair of AC-220s to push it."

"AC-220?" Genia looked at Scar.

"A Vulture, biggest fucking gun ship in the UNSC, fifty four year old design and it still kicks ass." Omega Team's Sniper replied.

The Carrier was visible even from where they were. It was already launching squadrons of fighters and drop ships filled with infantry and carrying vehicles.

"I see it...get that bombardment under way Captain, I'll handle the Carrier." Chase said.

"Course set in," Doro commented, turning Sierra 4-8. "I'll see you all once this insane assault is over."

"Try not to get our pilot killed Lieutenant," Talo said from where he sat at the back of the Falcon's troop compartment, sliding a fresh thermal clip into his sniper rifle. "He still owes me five hundred credits."

"Oh are you still going on about that? Lesson learned: Never gamble with a Quarian." The Batarian Pilot grumbled.

"He played me four times." Talo said to his team after turning off his radio. "He won the third time and I'd have been in debt for seventy credits, but he got cocky."

"Your pilot is that much of a schmuck?" Smithy asked.

"I have no idea what that term is, Lieutenant." The Quarian replied, going back to his rifle.

Xxx

The UNSC Army had numbered just over nine thousand when the assault had begun. It had lost over a thousand men and women in the attack against the covenant lines, but had also made the covenant bleed. Now the brigades were camped out and harassing the covenant in the foot hills with artillery and random sniper nests and fox holes. They had begun with over six hundred Warthogs and eighty Scorpions along with three hundred Mongooses for their initial charge. Now barely three hundred warthogs, thirty Scorpions, and two hundred Mongooses were left, and more vehicles and ships were being flown in.

As a pair of Vulture Gunships descended into view from the clouds up high, many marines and militiamen admired the moving artillery. They were capable of destroying entire covenant bases on their own and could take on several squadrons of Banshees or Seraphs. It was like a pilot's own personal super carrier.

The four frigates had advanced and were preparing to bombard Salvador Valley where three companies and an artillery unit were preparing to attack the covenant that had dug in.

At Outpost Charlie 10, Halsey was looking at images of the battle. "How long until the way to Theta is cleared, Colonel?"

"I dispatched my Zulu Team as you suggested, Halsey." Colonel James Ackerson replied, keeping his voice professional as he stared at Halsey through the Comm. Unit set up. Next to the image of the elderly officer was General Norris and then further to the right was Admiral Patterson. "They haven't seen Shadow Team yet, but they have reported something rather odd."

"Define 'odd' Colonel, the definition seems mixed with what seems to be the new normal around here." Patterson said.

"They reported seeing air craft near an abandoned UNSC Outpost that resemble the technology used by our new Alien Comrades." No sooner than Ackerson spoke did an image of the two gunships and transport appear. "They landed in the outpost, took out a covenant infantry assault, and then took off again."

"I managed to catch a nice view of two whole companies converging on that base." Patterson pulled up SATCOM images of the area. "I can't see any details from it but there may have been a fire fight. Maybe the base personnel managed to hold out."

"Or they were picking up something besides people." Halsey suggested.

"We don't even know if these are Citadel Species designed ships." Norris said. "Trace them and dispatch a scout team. Colonel, have Zulu Team continue on to Theta. I'll reroute Omega and Xeno after the Jammers and the Carrier are down."

"Yes sir," Ackerson replied before vanishing.

Since arriving on Stronghold, Ackerson had managed to become popular with a few of the field commanders by providing support to their positions. He had managed to even wipe out three covenant ships that tried to break the orbital defence. And most importantly he brought Spartans with him, over twenty of his Third Generation Spartans, including the one remaining member of SIII Noble Team, Jun-A266.

The young Spartan's head was shaved bald and he had a black tattoo on the sides of his head. He was sitting on a crate not too far from Halsey, cradling his sniper rifle. He was the only Spartan III Halsey knew personally and could actually say she liked. He had guarded her well until they reached CASTLE Base and assisted her Spartan IIs in their mission to eliminate the Unyielding Hierophant. He had fought valiantly on Reach and even earned a mutual respect between himself and the remaining Spartan IIs.

"Jun, Frederick, William, Kelly, Linda, Isaac, Lee." Halsey turned to the seven Spartans. "You'll be helping Zulu, Omega and Xeno to retake the Theta Site. I estimate the way will be open in two hours. Get ready to head out."

"Yes Doctor," The Spartans said in unison and went to collect their gear.

Halsey looked back to the images of Norris and Patterson. "General, Admiral, I'll be awaiting the signal to take the science team into Theta. Where the covenant goes they tend to show us how to activate what they find."

"We'll leave it to you, Ackerson, and the Spartans." Norris replied. "Stronghold Command out."

The two men vanished.

Xxx

**UNSC **_**Raven's Wing**_

**114****th**** Hour of Covenant Invasion**

"All companies have dug in, the covenant have fallen back." Norris announced. "Let's keep it up, at this rate we can have them off of Stronghold within ten hours. After that we can focus on evacuations and combating the enemy fleet."

"Sir, the next group of civilian evacuation transports are away." A Longsword Pilot reported. "Covenant Corvette is moving to intercept!"

"Bring us about and charge the MAC!" Patterson barked. "Lock Archer Pods A to E and fire!"

The Halcyon Cruiser made for where a single corvette attempted to intercept over thirty civilian transports. The Corvette was beginning to charge its weapons when the _Raven's_ Archer Missiles shot across space towards it. Its Six AA Turrets on the starboard side opened fire and began to pick the missiles off one at a time, but over half of them still struck the shields.

"Enemy shields are still up sir." The Tactical Officer said. "MAC is at 68 percent and charging at a rate of three percent per second."

"Fire Pods A to J." Patterson replied. "Order the civilian transports to proceed with the evacuation!"

The Corvette fired. Patterson ordered the helmsman to bring the command deck away from the blast and let the side armour of the ship take the shot.

"Armour in Decks 4, Sections 5 to 7; Deck 5, Sections 2 to 8, and Deck 6, Sections 5 to 9 has taken the hit, we have some damage but we're still operating." Silvia sai as she manifested on the AI Pedestal next to the two officers. "MAC is at 92 Percent."

"Lock and fire at will." Patterson ordered the AI.

"Acquiring Firing Solution." Silvia said calmly, after several seconds she smiled. "Locked, firing salvo."

One MAC 'Shredder' round fired and struck the Corvette's shields. The smaller ship had weaker shields than the mighty Destroyers and Carrier, so they fell after the first shot. The second MAC round ripped the Corvette in half down the middle. Both pieces detonated as the core overloaded.

"Hostile vessel neutralized." Silvia said. "We have 23 MAC rounds remaining Admiral. Archer Pods B, E, J, K, O, and Z are disabled from plasma damage. Archer Pod B and J were empty anyways, so are Archer Pods C, F, L, P, and X. Three Crewman were injured, but are stable sir."

"Take us to the UNSC _Mason_ for munition transfer." Patterson replied. "All hands, return to Yellow Alert."

"Battle Group Five is engaging Enemy over Sector Eleven." Silvia began to announce further combat information as Norris and Patterson left the bridge.

"This is getting critical; at this rate we'll lose Stronghold in a few days." Patterson said grimly. "They don't care how many more ships or regiments they lose to take out one of our ships or bases."

"We lost the 9th Battle Group over Sector Fifteen an hour ago." Norris added. "Also lost another Platform."

"On the bright side we have over eighty million off world now." Patterson said. "Evacuation didn't go so smoothly on Reach."

"Nothing ever did and it never does. The only reason they never glassed this whole planet is because they know there's something valuable down there and they want to get it." Norris sighed.

When he reached his Quarters, Norris found a recently received message. It was a priority one message...

From Earth.

He opened it. "Silvia, when was this message sent?"

"This message was sent on November 28th, 2552 via the automated courier probe Alpha 438." Silvia replied. "It mentioned that all FTL communications in Sol have been down since October 24th, 2552."

**United Nations Space Command ALPHA PRIORITY**

** TRANSMISSION 9247842-61**

**Encryption Key: Black**

**From: Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, Commanding Officer of UNSC Naval Corps, Sol FLEETCOM Sector One Commander**

**To: All UNSC Warships in STRONGHOLD, SIGMA TERRA, NOVA, and COLOSSUS Systems**

**Subject: ALAMO**

_/start file/_

Covenant Invasion Fleets have coordinated on Sol System, Defence fleet holding, Cole Protocol Compromised, Covenant Deploying Full Sized Invasion Fleets since 23rd of November. All ships are to initiate ALAMO Contingency Immediately and return to Sol. All Special Forces units and Capital Ships are to be recalled for counter attack against Covenant Fleet.

_/end file/_

"God save us all." Norris whispered.

Earth had been under attack for three months and had covenant in the system for four! All the time he had been enjoying a peaceful few months and one week of what he had considered hell, millions or billions of people could be dying!

"Orders, General?" Silvia asked.

"Keep this secret from everybody, even Admiral Patterson." Norris said. "Initiate Emergency Protocol Alpha and send word to the salvage yards. Have them re-equip, re-occupy, and launch every single ship they have. Bring out every nuclear weapon and assign them to battle groups. Call in any patrols we don't already have here and tell them to get here ASAFP! We need to take out the covenant here as quickly as possible and have enough ships left to be able to help Earth afterwards!"

"Sir, not reporting an ALAMO Contingency is a serious breach of-" Silvia began.

"Override Command Delta! If anybody finds out about this then morale will plummet. We'll tell them afterwards." Norris snapped. "Any complaints?"

"No, General." Silvia vanished.

Xxx

End of Chapter!

ALAMO Contingency-Counter Attack plans used in case Sol is discovered.

Emergency Protocol Alpha-Emergency Protocol used in event of a major colony being in danger of being overrun. Gives Commanding Officer clearance to commit any and all resources to defence.

Override command (Delta): Allows an officer of Rear Admiral, Brigadier General, etc or higher to override any and all orders in event of logistical or morale related consequences to event at hand.


	13. Chapter 13: Deadly Plans

Mass Effect Wars

Ok, we'll be at the climax of the story (if any Tucker RvB fans say 'bow chicka bow wow' I will smash my key board and stop typing altogether) and this might make you wonder: what will the end be? Well I made up my mind about it, but tell you what: I'll torment you by making you guess while I laugh. Take guesses, I dare you to.

Oh, and warning...rape in this chapter.

Xxx

ChapteR fourteen (I'm superstitious about thirteen O_O...nah just messing with you) Chapter 13: CDZ Invasion-Deadly Plans

**UNSC Pelican Drop ship Sierra 4-8, Carrying Specialist team 'Striker'**

**CDZ**

**114****th**** Hour of Covenant Invasion**

"Brace yourselves ,we have a lot of company!" Doro shouted as he brought the Pelican down and dropped a Warthog for the Squadron, now replenished with regular marines. "Archer sent a few squads to keep them busy, take advantage of it and get through!"

"You got it!" Chase replied as he and his squad leaped out.

Xxx

_Three hostiles, one using SMG, another with a shotgun, one with a sniper rifle-foolish a long range weapon in close quarters._

_First, distract with flash bang, go for enemy with Shotgun, cut throat, take shotgun, neutralize opponent with SMG with shot to abdomen-no, opponent is 603 Gavin, uses Armour Lock frequently. Opponent with shotgun is 464 Ian, has habit of forgetting to load weapon until it is entirely empty, re-evaluate attack plan. Cut Gavin's throat, take SMG, neutralize Ian with fully automatic spray until shields collapse, use free hand to toss a fragmentation grenade for cover._

_Next, abandon SMG, take shotgun, use armour lock and neutralize sniper-Carlos 289's shields with EMP, disable with shot to abdomen._

_Enemy fire team neutralized._

_Chase watched as the three Spartans chatted in the middle of the corridor, their weapons held at their sides. It had only been seven years ago when he had been taken, and he already had a reputation among the Omega Spartans as 'Tac', short for Tactical, due to his habit of always making a plan and following through on it with precision._

_And this was no different. He leaped out and whipped out his knife. Grabbing Gavin 603, he spun him around and cut his throat, and grabbed his SMG as he fell. Tossing a grenade at Carlos 289, he fired the SMG in one hand at the shotgun wielding Ian. The Spartan barely got a single shot off with his weapon before he fell, and Chase's armour took the pellets easily, only unbalancing him a bit._

_Tossing the SMG aside, Chase leaped forward, rolling and coming up into a crouch, jacking the last round in the shotgun into the chamber as he did. He locked his armour down as Carlos brought his sniper rifle up and fired point blank range. The round deflected off of the impenetrable barrier and went into a wall. Releasing the lock, an EMP wave friend Carlos' shields and messed up his helmet's optics long enough for Chase to rise and squeeze the trigger, blowing Carlos off his feet._

_For a few moments he surveyed the fallen Spartans around him, and then a voice rang out. "Spartan 067 wins again."_

_The AI controlling the training armour released the three 'dead Spartans. Gavin rubbed his throat where Chase's stun baton had shocked him and alerted the armour's systems that he had been 'knifed' and locked down his armour. Ian got up, his front body plate covered in white paint. Carlos looked down at the white stain on his body plate._

"_Good work once again, Spartan." Chase turned to meet his commanding officer, but only saw the tip of a shotgun held by Nathan Creed himself, using a voice filtration device built into his armour. "But I never hit the buzzer."_

_After that day, Nathan never managed to fool Chase with that trick, but it took him days to get the white stain off of his helmet._

Xxx

Chase shot up the beach in the Warthog, two marines backing him up. He ran over a pair of Grunts and drove up a cement ramp off of the beach and into the factory where the gun was positioned. Most of it was collapsed in, so the gun was able to be nestled in among a cleared section of the building and able to aim anywhere towards the outer parts of the CDZ, but it also cold hit the Covenant Carrier.

"Take them down!" The Sergeant accompanying him ordered his marines as the rest of the squad stormed in behind Chase's warthog.

A pair of rockets slammed into a Shade, some fragmentation grenades took down a sniper's nest on the second floor of the building, and the squadron began to rush across the cement towards the gun emplacement. Four of them fired off to the left, firing quick bursts into grunts and jackals while the other six fired to the right, using shotguns and pistols against two Elites and five Grunts that tried to cut them off. The squadron had to slow down to reload or take cover, but they were always moving.

Chase stopped the warthog near the base of the AA Gun and hopped out along with the marine in the shot gun seat. The gunner covered them as they rushed into the interior of the AA Gun. After having to deal with a full dozen of them all day Chase was happy to keep one intact and use it instead of destroying it.

He went to the second floor while his marine companion mopped up the three grunt guards with her shotgun. He took out his knife.

_Two Elites, one Field Master, one Squad Leader. Two Jackals, four Grunts._

_Begin by eliminating Field Master, knock away Squad Leader and attack Field Master, cut throat from behind, apply a plasma grenade to him and shove in direction of guards._

Chase leaped up from the ramp and grasped one of the cables connecting the gun to the operating systems. He swung himself and struck the squad leader in the face, sending the elite toppling over the side. Landing behind the startled Field Master, he leaped up and pulled its neck back and cut its throat wide open. Landing on his feet, he triggered a plasma grenade and attached it to the elite's back as its hands shot to its throat in a vain attempt to save itself. Angling his body, he slammed his shoulder into its back and sent it stumbling right into the center of its stunned allies.

Throwing himself back and landing on his stomach, he rolled onto his side and covered his head as the plasma grenade-and every other grenade in the squad's possession detonated.

Getting to his feet, he rushed to the controls. "I'm at the controls. Set up a perimeter and keep me covered until that Carrier is down."

"You got it Lieutenant!" The Marine Sergeant called back. "Lima Squad, keep these split lipped fucks off our new gun!"

Xxx

"Striker has taken AA Gun 13 and is focusing fire on Enemy Carrier." Captain Campbell of the UNSC _Luna_ announced. "Legend Oh Six, you are clear to make your run on Salvador Valley."

"All UNSC Air Craft are pulling away from Salvador Captain, the way is clear." Silvia, who was connected to all four of the ships through the Battle Net said.

"Legend Oh Six moving in for bombing run." The frigate flew over the valley. "Firing!" Dozens of heavy shells struck the valley below it, destroying Scarabs and combat platoons. "Enemy force is crippled, infantry move in!"

A Pelican with a camera transferred images of hundreds of marines rushing the valley with support from several warthogs and tanks. The Covenant were being blown away bit by bit, being back up to their only remaining Scarab. It fired, and a line of UNSC troops vanished.

"We have another Scarab, take it down!" Major Levin, the Commanding Officer of the infantry charge into Salvador yelled through the radio. "Repeat, we have a Scarab tearing apart my troops, somebody get me air support over here before it-" Major Levin never finished his sentence after he was incinerated along with most of his officers.

"Coordinating air strike...Longsword Delta 3-Oh inbound." Silvia announced.

"Bombs away!" An enthusiastic pilot shouted before several Moray Mines were dropped onto the Scarab and the gathered infantry around it, turning the Walker into a ball of fire and plasma.

"Scarab is down, continuing advance!" The new commanding officer of the forces in Salvador Valley, Gunnery Sergeant Patton said as he led a platoon of scouts to take care of any survivors.

"Rodger that, Legend Oh Six is moving to engage Covenant Carrier." Archer said. "Gallows 5-7 and Panther 4-3 form up."

The three frigates, accompanied by two full squadrons of Longswords and several Pelicans began to head for the location of the Carrier. As they began to pass over Pacificos Lake, the AA Gun in the abandoned factory flared to life and fired on the Carrier. The shields flashed in the area of the impact, and moments later another plasma salvo struck the Carrier's shields.

"All ships, fire at will." By now each frigate had their MAC charged and a firing solution acquired.

Each of them had a full load of twenty MAC rounds and plenty of Archer Missiles. The MAC rounds shot across the sky and struck the shields, making them flash dangerously. The Carrier was only still in the air because it was stronger than the covenant corvettes and frigates that the humans could take out with their smaller war ships. It would have stayed and fought, but three human warships and a heavy AA Gun against one Carrier was not a good set of odds for the covenant.

"She's pulling away!" Chase shouted. "Keep it up, just two clicks to firing sight!"

"Fire Archer Missiles." Archer ordered. "Pods A to L."

Dozens of Archer missiles shot from each frigate and struck the shields of the Carrier.

"Carrier Shields are dangerously critical; I assume that we may soon have it defenceless." Silvia commented. "Fortress Base is preparing to fire. They have over eighty rounds left now."

"Tell them that we'll have a nice big target ready for them in a few minutes." Chase said.

The Carrier was edging dangerously close to the edge of the Olympus Gun's line of fire now. The Commander was aware of the humans' powerful ground based weapon and had no intention of just going right into it. The Carrier itself was more important than the regiment of soldiers on the ground. They were all a distraction to stall the humans, who would not go to the sacred site until all obstacles were removed.

The Elite Shipmaster Cermora'Fasen had already lost one ship, he would not lose another. If he could at least take the human ships out of the fight that might cripple or stall their advance. His ship's main guns would take too long to charge between shots, and he could not flee...so that left one option.

"Recall transports and fighters, prepare to go to slipspace." Cermora announced.

"Shipmaster, we still have thousands of soldiers on the grou-" The Zealot was silenced by Cermora's blade through his gut. Jerking the sword free, Cermora snarled.

"Go to slipspace, take us to the outer regions of this system!" His crew got to work immediately.

Xxx

"Legend Oh Six to Striker Leader, be advised we are reading a build up of power in the...oh shit, they're going to jump!" Archer shouted. "All ships pull out! Striker, get out of there!"

Chase stood at the console, his eyes closed. "Captain...I am never surprised by anything in the field. I believe you may have found that out in my file."

"Lieutenant there's no time, get the fuck out of that factory!"

"I knew there'd be no chance of escaping if we pushed them." Chase looked to where his squad was being gunned down by an overwhelming stream of covenant soldiers. He reached up and took his helmet off. "Captain, there's one last order I have as head of Omega Company, I am transferring authority to Omega One, Sierra Oh-Niner-Two. I might not like his choice of friends but he'll do the company good. Silvia, do you hear me?" He looked to where space and time was beginning to bend around the Carrier, ignoring the fire fight below.

"Acknowledged Omega Leader, transferring authority as Company Commander to Sierra Oh-Niner-Two." The AI replied.

Chase smiled even as an Elite leaped up onto the platform and rushed at him, whipping out its plasma sword. He took his pistol in one hand and raised it as the Elite charged.

"God's speed, Omegas." He said before the Carrier shrunk and bent in on itself, exiting reality in a flash of blinding light that shot out and instantaneously consumed everything within several miles, including Chase Berger 067 and the frigate _Plutonian_ and thousands of covenant soldiers.

Xxx

_BANG! The bullet flew past Chase's right ear and into the trees as chase batted Jackson's arm aside._

_BANG! The next bullet went high as Chase grasped the younger Spartan's arm._

_Desperate, Jackson tried to release his arm, squeezing the trigger again. BANG!_

_SNAP! CRUNCH! Chase broke his arm at the elbow, making Jackson scream as his pistol fell from his hand._

"_You fucking wind up toy!" Jackson groaned as he fell to his knees, cradling his broken arm. "Why are you doing this? You wanted to get out so bad!"_

"_Jackson Oh-Oh-One-Four, you are hereby sentenced to summary execution for violation of Omega Sierra Protocol." Chase picked up the hand gun._

"_Don't fucking talk to me like that man," Jackson sniffed, trying not to cry from both the pain of his arm being broken and the emotional pain that he had failed; he would be killed for trying to go back to his old life. "If you're gonna kill me then at least talk like you're human."_

_Chase paused, the pistol levelled at Jackson's head, the tip resting between his eyes. Jackson glared at him defiantly, tears streaming down his face._

"_So go on, do it." Jackson got up ,cradling his broken arm against his gut. "I'm not going back so do it."_

_Chase heard shouts and the sounds of a Pelican's engines approaching. He kept his aim on Jackson. "Jackson...come on man, just give it up, we can both go back now, they won't kill you if you come back."_

"_I ain't going back," Jackson shook his head. "I never asked for this. You and Nate and a ton of others did but they _kidnapped_ me, they never asked if I wanted a choice. I'm just a kid Chase, and look at me!" He had the physical build of a wrestler; he looked like he was in his mid to early twenties, the same age as Chase. "They're a bunch of liars. They say they protect humanity and here they are turning us into soldiers to do their fighting for them! I should be in college, you should be married, having kids or doing whatever you want! Hell you could have just joined the marines the regular way!"_

_The anger vanished from his voice. "Please man...just let me go, please...I want to go home."_

_For a moment chase was taken back to when he had seen teary eyed six year olds and frustrated college age kids who had defied the instructors until finally they were broken. They took the training, they used guns, they spent their time exercising and formulating plans for the next team tactics training scenario instead of worrying about looks, love, the next tv show, fancy cars, they were changed entirely..._

_Just like Chase, yet this young, weaker boy had resisted the entire way. He had been forced to take augmentations, but he would still try to escape just like now..._

_But Chase hadn't been strong enough to keep his own spirit._

_A marine rushed into the clearing. "I found them!"_

"_Sorry buddy," Jackson whispered before he flew forward and reached for Chase's knife._

_Chase grasped the handle first, tossing the gun aside in case he tried to go for that and brought the knife out. Instead of leaping back, Jackson grabbed his hand with both of his, keeping his fingers closed around the hilt and brought the blade right into his own throat, sinking it in deep. They both stood still as statues, Chase staring with shocked eyes as Jackson collapsed against him. Catching the younger Spartan, Chase fell to his knees as Jackson stared past him and into the sky, blood filling his air way and pouring out his mouth._

_He smiled, and focused on Chase. He tried to say something, perhaps thanking Chase, but Spartan 067 never heard it._

"_Shit, they wanted him alive!" The marine Lieutenant said as he stood over the two. "Omega Camp this is Lieutenant Corris, Sierra Oh-Oh-One-Four is down. Atempted to resist arrest, Oh-Six-Seven was forced to neutralize with lethal force."_

"_Get him back here," Chase heard the voice over his radio as he slowly reached for the discarded pistol. "There may be a chance for us to revive him if we place him in cryogenic storage and operate on him from there."_

"_Rodger Command, will do." Corris looked down. "Alright, let's load him up and get him back to base so they can fix him up. Man, I'd hate to be him when he wakes up-"_

_BANG!_

_The fourth round in the magazine entered Lieutenant Corris' right shoulder and knocked him off his feet. Jackson's hand weakly held the pistol for barely a moment before Chase snatched it back from where he had deposited it and jammed the tip of it against Jackson's forehead._

_Jackson smiled again right before Chase pulled the trigger and gave his friend the last sweet mercy he could provide: an irreversible death. Without the brain there would be no miracle surgery to bring him back from the tip of oblivion. Jackson died there and then._

"_Fuck! He shot me!" Corris, still alive but bleeding cried out as several more marines ran into the clearing._

_Chase stood, the pistol still locked on Jackson's body. "He managed to grab the gun, tried to shoot me next...had to neutralize him."_

"_It's understood Lieutenant," Chase looked to General Norris, who had a Kevlar vest on over a regular shirt and a green hat with the average olive drab of a marine on his head. "I personally don't blame him for running. I wouldn't have minded if he escaped, but protocol is protocol and we have a war to fight." He sighed. "Your trap worked except for the death of the target. All according to plan, Lieutenant?"_

"_Yes, General," Chase mumbled, staring at his dead friend. "All according to plan."_

Xxx

Chase went out with a bang there and then, and he didn't even feel it when his body was charred and his armour melted to what was left of him. If he knew this was coming days ago then the Spartan wouldn't have minded a less...gruesome way to die, but he would have accepted it if that's what was meant to be.

If Chase had survived being shot through space and time without protection, he would have slowly died in the vacuum of space when what was left of his body was shot back into reality millions of miles away. The Carrier appeared in orbit over one of the moons of Astuce. The _Plutonian_ had managed to survive the trip and was already well on its way to flee the carrier before it took notice of the small human ship.

Back on Stronghold, the other frigates looked upon a massive crater made in the ground.

"Damn...if they got too many ships down here at once...they could just...jump and suck up everything around them." Archer said. "This is insane."

"Captain Archer, Salvador Valley is secure, Specialist Teams are regrouping for assault on Theta Dig Site." Silvia said coolly as if she had not just witnessed the destruction of several miles of land-and the death of yet another Spartan who, unlike the regular Spartan IIs was allowed to 'die' since nobody ever knew he was there.

Archer looked down. "Silvia...send a report to Stronghold High Command...Spartan Oh-Oh-Six-Seven is KIA." She closed her eyes. "Enemy Carrier has jumped away, destination unknown at current time. Invasion will proceed."

"Message sent Captain Archer, and I have received news from Raptor and Guard Leader, enemy Jammer has been located." Silvia replied.

Xxx

The three fighters looked at the dome of light that had formed in the distance and then barely seconds later vanished as though somebody had flicked a light switch. Ataca lowered his rifle. "What the hell was that?"

"That was the area where the enemy carrier was set up...oh my god it jumped just like the Destroyer in Haven tried to jump." Nathan said. "If it did...then Striker...Chase...he could be..."

Chase, dead? Impossible, he never made a plan that involved dying, he always thought out every detail! He never took one step too many, it was like a religion in his eyes to see things ten steps before he arrived at them!

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, he was a good man." Maevor said. "But we have a job to do. People die, its war, and we need to move on."

Creed nodded silently, and looked to the building where the jammer was set up. It was a basic militia outpost, a small cube shaped two story building with metal walls and doors and a communications array. Several Grunts patrolled around it while an Elite stood on the roof, arms crossed.

The covenant were staring at the area where the Carrier had jumped. The Elite and his two Jackal XOs spoke over a covenant relay they had set up, exchanged some words with an unknown receiver, and then laughed as said communications specialist informed them of the Carrier's escape. Several companies of humans had also been caught in the blast, and one of the frigates had been caught in it also, slowing the human advance. They did not care for the thousands of covenant who had perished.

"I'll take the leaders out." Creed growled. "Take the sentries and clear the first floor. I'll give you the signal to attack."

"How are you going to-" Maevor paused as Creed literally vanished before his very eyes. "Oh..."

Under the cover of active camouflage, Creed approached the building with only a knife, his SMG, and his shotgun. His assault rifle had ran out of ammo during the previous engagements with the covenant soldiers patrolling the region. Moving inside the building, he tip toed past a pair of sleeping Grunts and up the stairs where only a Jackal Sniper and another two grunts were manning the windows. Taking his knife out, he entirely decapitated the Jackal. He snapped the first grunt's neck from behind, and before the other Grunt could scream he sank his knife into its eye up to the hilt. With the brain thoroughly reduced to mush, he tore the blade out and went up to the roof.

He deactivated his active camouflage as he stepped up to a position eight feet behind the trio of aliens. Taking out a single plasma grenade, he marched up, triggered it, and slammed it down on the top of the Elite's head, bending it over a big before he leaped back and watched as the grenade detonated and blew away the top half of the Elite and killed the two Jackals.

Maevor and Ataca began sniping the sentries. After a brief thirty second fire fight the gun fire went silent, and Ataca drew his pistol before he went inside and forced the two Grunts within to drop their weapons and put them in cuffs.

Creed looked to the jammer, and walked over to it. Taking out his last plasma grenade, he attached it to the jammer and distanced himself from it before it went up like a light. At that moment his radio came back on line. "Legend Oh Six this is Guard-Raptor, Jammer 3 is disabled."

"Good work Guard, we have Blue, Hunter, and Crow on route to the second one." Archer replied.

"Captain...that light...did the Carrier jump?" Creed asked.

"Yes Lieutenant...and Spartan 092 is now KIA." Archer said, sympathizing with the loss of Chase Berger, who was almost the equivalent of the Master Chief himself. "And there's more...Lieutenant Creed, you are now promoted to 1st Lieutenant and given position of Company Commander of Sierra Omega Company."

Creed looked back to where the Carrier had jumped away, taking away hundreds of humans with it, including his friend Chase. "Understood, ma'am." He had to struggle to keep his voice calm and professional. "Any new orders?"

"Marine forces are already closing in on the third Jammer, and the second one won't last too long." Archer paused. "New orders: Return to Legend Oh Six until 0200, and then deploy for Theta Site and link up with Spartan Team Zulu. They're scouting out the area. Infiltrate the site and find what the covenant are searching for. Command is bringing in an air assault and transports to prepare to take back the base."

"Finally." Ataca said. "Perhaps where their most valued artefacts reside there shall also be worthy foes!"

A Falcon was already approaching, accompanying a Pelican.

"So, do you think the ODST scout team survived?" Maevor asked as he, Creed, and Ataca proceeded towards the Falcon while marines off loaded. Nearby, more Falcons dropped fire teams to rescue civilians.

"I don't know, I'm more interested in what they found." Creed said. "When they attacked Reach they had over three hundred ships and lost over two thirds of it trying to take the planet. Why throw away hundreds of ships like this? We've already destroyed upwards of a hundred of them and barely lost fifty, if they keep this up they'll lose upwards of a hundred thousand troops and far too many ships to hold this planet if any patrol fleets show up again."

"That's just it Lieutenant," Maevor replied as they sat down in the Falcon. "They don't give a damn how hard it is, they'll do whatever it takes to get it done."

"Let's look on the bright side." Ataca set his rifle down. "We get a ten hour break, that'll be the longest I've had since...the time it took for us to get from the Citadel to here."

Xxx

**UNSC **_**Legionnaire**_

**Maintaining orbit over CDZ**

**116****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

By the time they had returned to the _Legionnaire_, the second and third Jammers were destroyed and the UNSC forces had occupied the region. Covenant forces were pooling together to prepare to beat them back.

Curana had taken the chance to shower for the first time in days, and was in the process of zipping up her soft suit when the locker room door opened. She looked over, and instead of seeing marines in the process of taking off their uniforms, she saw four men in ODST uniforms-minus the armoured plating who were examining her.

"I'm already done here, the showers are all yours." She said, reaching for her armour.

"Actually, we're fine." The leader said. "But...I'm a little curious about a few things, things that you can answer."

Curana looked back at them. "What are they specifically?"

"Well...the whole 'we've come to help you because we don't like genocide' story you sold to your pet Spartan and the General...well my superiors don't buy it." One of the men shut the door behind him. "Now, men like General Norris, they're desperate for a miracle, so desperate...they don't bother to listen to the facts."

"We were truthful when we told you our reasons for coming here." Curana said.

"And yet the General let the fact that your people hacked into private archives and viewed Top Level Information go." The leader's eyes narrowed. "I'm Lieutenant Garson of ONI, TRDR Division. Tactical Requisition and Dangerous Research. We do a lot of field testing for things the UNSC makes...and we're good at interrogating any aliens we come across for information."

Curana was on guard now; they were obviously not friendly. "What do you want?"

"It isn't what I want, Lania Curana, it's what I and a lot of important people know and just want you to confirm for us." Garson slowly pulled out a knife. "And I'm quite good at acquiring 'confirmations' to my suspicions."

Curana tensed as the other three humans began to surround her. One drew a small black object and flicked his hand, making it grow to be a foot and a half long baton with a small clicking sound.

One human rushed at her, but she sent him flying with a Biotic push, and then rolled forward and away from the baton wielding human. Getting up, she brought out her knife and cut the second human across the arm, drawing blood. He cursed and tried to punch her with a straight jab, but she pivoted out of the way and slammed the hilt of her knife into the man's throat. His eyes bulged, and he fell, gagging.

The baton wielding human swung at her, and she brought her arms up, forming a Biotic barrier in time to block it. Off guard, the human didn't have time to react when she brought one bare foot up and slammed it into his groin, reinforcing the kick with Biotic power. Groaning, he fell over.

The fourth man pulled out a pistol and fired twice, going for non critical areas. It had a silencer on it also, so nobody would be alerted-and she suspected this place didn't have visual sensors, and audio sensors might be disabled. Her barrier went down, but Curana thrust one hand out and sent the man flying into the wall behind him.

But then the first man she had disabled with a Biotic Push struck her across the back with his own baton. She arched her back with a cry and fell. Two of the men were up now, and the one who struck her had her pinned to his chest with his baton under her chin, forcing her back against him.

"Gotta admit, the tentacle head thing isn't much of a turn off, looks good with that pretty face." He said. "This locker room's closed, damage from the battles, nobody is coming in here for a while. And until then," He smirked. "We have you all to ourselves, alien."

Curana tried to call on her Biotics, but a needle pierced her exposed neck, and she gasped, momentarily struggling before the drug entered her and rendered her unconscious.

"So doc, you think this stuff will be harmful to her?" The man with the baton asked his companion, who pocketed the syringe.

"We looked over the medical tests, we're fairly certain she'll survive." The second man smirked. "You'll get to have as much fun as possible with her."

"Good."

Xxx

When Curana awoke, her hands were shackled over her. She looked up and saw her cuffs were looped around a hook that was high enough so that her toes just touched the ground.

"She's awake." She saw six men gathered in front of her this time, with a seventh person, a woman sitting to the side with a clipboard.

"The audio sensor malfunction will only last for the next hour before the AI asks us why we're taking so long." The woman said. "Get to work."

"Got it." The leader of the four men who ambushed Curana stepped forward, dragging a chair with him. He set it down with a light 'clang' of the metal legs hitting the metal floor. Setting himself on it, he lit a cigarette. "Alright princess, let's start with why you're really here. Some folks up high don't buy your load of crap story and I'd like to hear the non-edited version of it."

"We told you the truth damn it all!" Curana snapped before the man got up and without even showing the slightest bit of anger to signal the following action, struck Curana across the face with a closed fist. Her head snapped to the side and she stopped herself from crying out.

"Tell me why you really came here. Are you with the covenant? Has all this been some ploy to get near our most vital weaponry and data?" The man demanded.

"We're here to help-" The man hit Curana in the ribs, and not once, but several times.

Curling in on herself in pain wouldn't have been an option even if she wasn't held up by the chains. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. "We came to stop the genocide of humanity-"

"Bull shit!" One of the men struck her across the face with the butt of a shotgun. "Talk you blue skinned bitch!"

"Tell us why you really came here and this can stop." The leader said, not making any move to stop his subordinate when he hit Curana in the ribs with his weapon.

"We-we came to-" They didn't give her a chance to finish, the man hit her a dozen times in various places with the weapon.

"Tell. Me. Now." The Leader said in a low voice.

"I am telling you, we-we came to-ah..." Curana knew several bones were cracked or broken now. "I'm telling the truth, we-" The man slammed her head back against the wall, and for two full minutes they beat her again and again with fists and weapons.

When they asked again, one struck her with a baton. This kept up until they began to shock her repeatedly.

It went on and on, and there was nobody to stop it.

Xxx

Smithy and Scar were sitting in the port hangar deck, hanging from the back of a Pelican's compartment. Scar was looking at a picture taken of Delta Squad when it had become active in Omega Company. Chase had always chosen them for his missions, so he was included in the shot with Nathan 'Prince', Sarah 'Smithy', Edward 'Twist', and Roy 'Scar'. Twist was grinding one closed fist into the hair of an annoyed but smiling Scar; Prince and Chase looked professional, but the former had a light smile on his face and was watching his subordinates. Smithy stood next to Chase, hands folded behind her, just staring at the camera.

"I can't believe he really did it." She whispered.

"He always factored in everything Smithy, even a suicide mission." Scar dropped a cigarette and crushed it under his foot. "He said it himself, if that thing jumped there was a good chance it would take the AA Gun targeting it with it."

"But you'd think he would have at least tried to make an escape plan." Smithy crumpled the picture in her hand.

"Maybe he did, maybe he knew it wouldn't work." Scar remained stoic. "Chase was a great guy Smithy...hell, more than that, he was the best fucking leader I've ever met. He could have topped any Spartan, Elite, Brute, or Hunter out there." He set a hand on her shoulder. "He gave his life to make sure we would have a chance to take the covenant down here and now. Let's use it, not throw it back in his face by wasting it."

"Roy...that sounded like the closest thing to emotion I have ever see nyou have besides anger or annoyance." Smithy teased the older Spartan.

"Oh shut up." The sniper grumbled. "Try being nice to somebody and this is what you..." He walked off, but Smithy knew he had taken it in good humour.

Xxx

Up in the barracks, Creed finished looking over an assault rifle Maevor gave him. "So this holds clips of several _thousand_ bullets?"

"A full clip holds forty five hundred bullets." The Turian explained, holding his own rifle. "This propels them much faster than your weapons do, but they're so small that they aren't much against thick and heavy armour. They're anti infantry weapons that fire rounds the size of grains of sand. Our rocket launchers are about on par with your own, but aside from that I wouldn't expect a hundred citadel soldiers to do much against a few of your tanks."

"I doubt it, those biotics can just lift them up." The Spartan replied. "I've seen what Curana and Genia can do."

"They're great Biotics, but most untrained ones can barely lift something as big as one of the wheel of your vehicles." Maevor shrugged. "Most turians never have the chance to be Biotics, those who do are trained to operate at the highest level possible without killing themselves. Genia entered the military with an officer rank but never took promotions, she didn't want better treatment than other soldiers. Decades of no promotion and slowly building infamy...hell, I was scared of her for the first few years I knew her."

"Sounds like she and some officer I know would get along, some naval petty officer brought in for training us four or five years in. I think his name was Mendez-" Creed was cut off.

"Spartan Team Omega and all members of Xeno Squadron report to Starboard Hangars." Archer said over the P.A system. "Security Response Team Six, Starboard Hangar, ASAP."

"What do you think is happening?" Forgetting his armour, Creed took up his modified DMR while Maevor, Ataca, Genia, Doro, and Talo gathered their own weapons.

By the time they and Scar and Smithy were in the hangar, a dozen marines were on deck with rifles in hand. Captain Archer was there to meet them along with holograms of General Norris, Admiral Patterson, and Colonel Ackerson (Who as of several hours ago was the 3IC of all forces on Stronghold with the death of Brigadier General Raymond).

"What's happening?" Creed asked.

"The remnants of Shadow Squad are being brought back in." Archer said. "Some...friendly forces found them apparently."

"Who would be able to retrieve them from so deep in the CDZ?" Smithy asked. "Covenant air superiority there is so powerful a regiment couldn't break through."

"Um...it was kind of a 'unique' situation." Archer looked uncertain as a drop ship began to pull into the hangar, but not a Pelican drop ship.

The members of Xeno recognized it as a Citadel C7 Troop Drop ship, named 'Mauler Hunter' in honour of the fact that the chin gun on one of the first built had taken out a Thresher Mauler during a rescue operation. It set down as the gathered crowd backed away a bit. The marines remained in a line, rifles lowered.

The aft hatch opened, and slowly a Turian clad in blue and black armour and with scales brighter than Maevor's stepped out of the drop ship. He had a bright blue visor over his left eye and looked older than Maevor by several years. Next came a large Krogan in blood red armour who-though while not as big as Ataca had more scars. The next alien was a Quarian, but more slender than Talo, with navy armour and cloth.

Next, four humans in ODST armour and a pair of Turian guards got off the drop ship.

"Reinforcements!" Maevor strolled forward and met the Turian. "Maevor Sarius, Special Tactics and Recon, it's damn good to see you right now!"

"Garrus Vakarian, Captain, I was transferred from C Sec for this mission." The other turian replied.

"Urdnot Ataca!" The Krogan bellowed.

"Clan Master Wrex!" Ataca rushed forward and bowed his head. "I have fought long and hard to live for the moment to reunite with the clan."

"I have heard, you have done the Krogan proud youngling." Wrex crossed his arms, a smirk on his face. "A true example of Krogan adaption."

"Talo!" The Quarian female rushed forward and pulled Talo into a hug, stunning some of the gathered humans and aliens.

"Tali?" Returning the hug, Talo swung her around once. "What are you doing here?"

"Your father dispatched me with a group of Quarian Specialists to make certain that you were safe." Tali replied. "The Migrant Fleet was given permission to be involved with the fact that the Council did not want to face an angered Quarian Admiral who commands the strongest of the Quarian Battle Fleets."

"I have good news for all of you. The Citadel Alliance has dispatched a fleet to help relieve the Stronghold Defence fleet. " The Turian, Garrus Vakarian announced. "I have a dozen support frigates and a company of soldiers already set down within the CDZ who are ready to destroy prime covenant targets and within twenty two hours a fleet of one hundred-thirty eight vessels will arrive to completely wipe the covenant fleet in orbit out of existence."

"Captain, I've only known about the existence of your government for several days...but I wouldn't care if you came up to me walking on water." Norris said. "I'll inform the fleet to expect reinforcements."

"We also noticed several hundred of your evacuation ships; we had two frigates make sure that they arrived at their destination." Garrus crossed his arms. "Executor Palin will be leading the counter attack against the covenant fleet from our side. I'd suggest we coordinate with your fleet."

"Allow me to invite you to my command station then. Two hours, and we'll have a proper meeting." Norris replied.

"Lieutenant Shepard, welcome back." Archer welcomed the four surviving ODSTs. "Major Adema...she did not make it?"

"She got hit by a Hunter, triggered a grenade to buy us time." Jane Shepard shook her head. "The covenant definitely found something, and it is fucking big."

"In that case we don't have a lot of time to waste." Norris said. "Captain Archer, as soon as we hit the dead line, deploy Xeno and Delta. Halsey sent her Spartans ahead to meet up with Zulu and they're waiting for some reinforcements now."

"Aye sir." Archer snapped a salute.

"Stronghold Command, out." Norris, Patterson, and Ackerson vanished.

Xxx

Up in the _Raven's Wing_, James Ackerson looked at Norris. "General, I am not sure if it is wise to immediately trust the aliens on their word alone."

"Colonel, they've helped destroy tens of thousands of covenant soldiers and a lot of their ships, if they were spies they'd have made their move long ago." Patterson said.

"But what if they aren't with us or the covenant? What if its the forerunner structure? Think about it, technology that could topple the covenant looks very promising to us...or them." Ackerson persisted.

"This is a discussion for later Colonel, so long as we win this battle I don't care if they want to drag some ancient technology home with them." Norris glared at Ackerson. "You have a job to do, so do it."

Backing down, Ackerson replied as he returned the glare. "Aye, sir."

Leaving the room, he pondered just how foolish you had to be before you were promoted above Ackerson's rank.

Xxx

Back on the _Legion_, the group had only just noticed the absence of Spectre Lania Curana.

"Spectre Sarius...where is Spectre Curana?" Garrus asked.

"I am uncertain...she should have been here before me," Maevor looked around the hangar.

"The last I checked she was going to take a shower." Smithy spoke up.

When they looked at her, she shrugged. "What, you thought she'd share with the testosterone fuelled war machines instead of her room mate?"

"Who is a member of said war machines," Creed replied.

"This is unlikely Lieutenant, according to a recent system's check, the water systems for the latrines and showers have been malfunctioning for the past twenty minutes...odd, detecting anomaly...anomaly bypassed." Silvia manifested before the group. "Warning, unauthorized weaponry in locker room B. Tracking security recordings...Spectre Curana entered Shower Room B and has had yet to exit. Someone has attempted to rewrite security recordings in an attempt to hide this."

"Shit, this can't be good." Creed grabbed his DMR. "Captain, don't make any official announcements, I'll head over there myself."

"I'll go with you." Smithy took up her shotgun.

"I didn't come this far to lose a spectre." Garrus stepped forward. "Allow me to accompany you."

"Be warned, several ODSTs were spotted entering the locker room as well." Silvia said. "Odd, that locker room is meant for women only, Locker Room A on the other hand is-"

"Oh stow it." Jane snapped at the AI before grabbing her pistol and checking it. "Count me in too."

Xxx

Curana cried out as the baton struck her ribs again. She was hanging limp in the manacles that held her up.

"Tell me the fucking truth you cunt!" The leader, now out of patience slammed her head against the wall. "Fuck it. Un-cuff her and hold her down."

Unable to fight, Curana was un-cuffed and slammed down on the floor. They rolled her onto her back and held her there. For a moment she was confused, but then she felt a hand at the zipper of her soft suit at the top of the neck. Realizing what was in store for her, the Spectre began to slowly cave in as the zipper came down and soft blue flesh was exposed.

She heard some of the ODSTs laugh, their breathing growing louder as they unzipped it all the way and began to slide the soft suit off. She feebly resisted, but soon her soft suit was discarded, leaving only her undergarments.

**(WARNING: Rape Starts here)**

"Wow, they sure know how to grow the girls back on your planet." The leader traced a hand up her inner thigh. "I'm not supposed to enjoy rape...but then again you can't rape it if it ain't human, so I won't feel too guilty after this."

Curana let out a whimper and tried to call on her biotics once more, but the drugs had left her unable to focus and she was in too much pain right now. The man began to unzip his pants. "Let's see if the plumbing's the same!"

His cohorts wolf whistled and jeered as Curana struggled, growing more fearful as the man bent down and positioned himself over her. His lackeys tugged away her undergarments, leaving her exposed to him and his now erect member.

"Now sweetie, remember the offer. Just tell us what you really came for, and we'll let you go." The group leader said.

Curana lost it at that point. "Please...please for the love of the goddess I'm telling the truth!"

One man was hesitant when he saw tears pouring down her face. "Uh...Travis, maybe she's telling the truth."

"Oh for fuck's sake Corporal don't chicken out now!" Lieutenant Travis Garson snapped at the younger man. "She's bull shitting us and you know it!" He smirked down at Curana. "Enjoy the ride, princess."

With that, Curana experience the single most painful moment of her life. She cried out and struggled as the man carried out the most despicable deed. Soon one of the men got sick of her crying and stuffed a sock in her mouth to stop her. She kicked and twisted, but the man above and inside her was not moving.

She let out scream after scream, begging for them to stop, for somebody to help her, she even called out Nathan's name-by then Garson was finished with her and pulled himself out of her. "Ah...remind me to grab myself another round with this bitch later."

**(RAPE ENDS HERE)**

But before his pants were even zipped up, the door hissed open. The six men and one woman looked up and found themselves confronted by two Turians, a Krogan, a pair of Quarians, an ODST Lieutenant, two shocked and horrified Spartans, and one extremely pissed off Spartan who abandoned his rifle and leaped across the room with a wild cry of fury.

He slammed into Garson, and that's when the bullets started to fly. Curana curled up into a ball, locking herself in from the firefight as the rest of the newcomers joined the enraged Lieutenant Creed in his attack. Maevor broke a man's arm ,and when he screamed Talo broke his jaw. Ataca entirely crushed another man, reducing him to a pile of bloody meat and shattered bones with his bare fists. Jane and Tali each took one of the ODSTs alongside Scar and Smithy. Garrus knocked out a fifth man with a simple blow to the temple with the butt of his rifle. The woman who had witnessed the rape had tried to flee, only to be met by Genia, who had come in behind the group.

Grabbing her by the neck, the Turian hissed. "You fucking bitch!" She then slammed a biotic reinforced hand into the woman's skull, sending her flying back into the room and slamming her into a wall.

By now Lieutenant Travis Garson had literally been relieved of his head and most of his spine by a blood spattered Lieutenant Creed. Nathan had never been seen further from his usual calm and sarcastic personality. When he had seen the man with his trousers open standing over a bruised, naked, and still Curana, he had entirely lost his mind in a feral rage that had driven him to rip the rapist's head off quite literally.

Now that the offender was dead, the next thing he focused on was Curana. Ignoring all other things, he stumbled towards her, collapsing to his knees. He gently touched her shoulder, and she flinched away from it. He whispered to her. "Curana, it's me, it's Nathan, it's just me."

She calmed down and let him take her into his arms. She buried her face against his shirt, shaking as Creed wrapped her in a towel provided by Smithy. Those who participated in the rape-those who were not dead anyways were tied up in a corner and under guard by a severely angered Ataca. Several humans had gathered outside after hearing the sounds of the fight within the locker room.

Pushing them aside, the silent saviours made their way to the medical bay.

Xxx

"You told me they were professionals!" Ackerson hissed.

"Some of my best." The man replied, setting his cigarette aside. "Though I must admit it was unlike Garson to resort to such tactics, he is usually much more...of sound mind."

"If it was one of Halsey's freaks then I would only be 'slightly' worried, but this Creed is not a wind up like the others are, he is on a blood hunt to find out who set Garson on his alien!" Ackerson turned to face the screen connecting him to the Illusive Man.

The Illusive Man was one of the greatest minds of this generation, and one of the richest ones too. He had funded secret Black Op projects and made ones of his own that had cost the covenant entire fleets and millions of soldiers. Because of the Illusive Man, the most enigmatic human in existence humanity still stood.

"If Garson hadn't been caught and killed, I would not have allowed him to live." The Illusive Man said. "I do not condone such tactics and I would not allow him to smear my division this way. Luckily his other colleagues were hired mercenaries so we shall not have to worry about this leading back to you or I, but I have arranged for several key members to take the fall. It would be too suspicious if their interrogation turned up nothing."

"I understand." Ackerson wiped some sweat away. "The alien insisted that they had come to assist us."

"IT is clear that they have, and it is clear that they were honest in their intentions. Hopefully 'your' use of Cerberus operatives will not harm any relations between the UNSC and this citadel alliance. For now, we'll need them."

Cerberus, that was the code name for TRDR, The Illusive Man himself founded the paramilitary division and had lead it into secret, unsung glory. He took a sip from a glass of wine. "Tell me Colonel...do you hate the covenant?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Do you despise them? Or do you fight them because of the essential need for survival? I do not...I fight them because they must be fought in order for humanity to continue, it is out of necessity and not hate. I understand you and others think that TRDR is...unethical in most cases, but I may sacrifice few for many...even I have my limits. I lost my family to the Covenant, as have many, I understand too much the wish to defeat them, but I do not let it take my humanity from me. Garson lost no family, he lived in luxury on Earth all his life with his family. He is patriotic to the extent that loyalty deleted any trace of humanity within him."

Setting his glass down, the Illusive Man concluded his speech. "There are heroes, there are villains, there are the anti heroes who achieve good means through intolerable methods...and then there are monsters. Garson became one and paid the price. If humanity is to survive this ,we need heroes such as Spartan 067 leading the way, achieving victory against foes and not allowing his experiences to compromise him...I trust you and I share this ideal, Ackerson?"

Ackerson nodded, a new layer of sweat forming. "I shall see to it that future operations for information retrieval are made by more...stable members of Cerberus."

"See that you do." The Illusive Man's figure vanished.

Ackerson sighed. "Garson you bastard...you left me one hell of a shit storm for me to clean up."

Xxx

End of chapter

I know...surprise, and I felt a little sick doing a rape scene so I didn't try to go too full out with it...and no, the point about humans trusting aliens did not affect me making this, I kinda had a...confrontation with Cerberus and the aliens going in my head for a while and decided to give the story a slightly darker direction to go in instead of 'run and gun, joke and laugh, victory and happiness/angst' that I had going. Honestly...kinda considering editing this chapter of it in the future...just doesn't feel right to me to write about it.

Either way...won't be any more rape scenes, trust me. -_-


	14. Chapter 14

Mass Effect Wars

Xxx

Chapter Fourteen: The Recovery

**UNSC **_**Legionnaire**_

**Medical Bay**

**117****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

Curana was finally asleep, the covers pulled up to her neck. She had her own personal Spartan watch dog sitting next to her. By now Xeno, Shadow, and Omega had gone to claim their first few hours of sleep, but Creed had elected to remain awake, and black circles had formed under his eyes hours ago due to the fact that he had been awake for fifty-four hours straight-now fifty five. He had gone on a blood hunt ever since he had gotten her to the medical bay, demanding that action be taken to find out who had ordered the attack on Curana. Urdnot Wrex had personally taken the liberty of interrogating them, promising not to kill the five survivors.

The attack would not stop for Curana, he knew that much. He would have to leave in seven hours to retake Theta Outpost and there was nothing he could do to argue against his orders.

Orders...fucking orders, somebody had _ordered_ Garson and his men to attack Curana, somebody had _ordered_ them to torture her, and _somebody_ most likely felt good that Garson left his mark on the Asari Spectre. Creed looked down again and saw his fists were shaking. Creed bowed his head and tried not to break something.

He had only known Curana for just under a hundred hours so far, and in that time she had shown that she was impossibly strong and brave...but now she was reduced to this. He had never seen her look so fragile and vulnerable. She turned over in her sleep, curling in on herself a bit.

Suddenly one eye opened up and saw Creed, who still towered over her when he was sitting down. "N...Nathan?"

"Yeah, it's me." Nathan smiled.

"Thank you...thank you so much." He could tell Curana was having a hard time trying not to cry. "Oh Goddess it hurt so much!" Then she was actually crying.

Creed slid an arm under her and gently eased the Asari up and held her to his chest. He had to be careful not to further break her bones by accident, but he didn't let go for even a second. Cradling her, Creed whispered soothing words to her.

"Please...don't leave me alone...please..." She begged, her arms around his neck.

"I won't Curana," Nathan said, assuring her. "I promise."

He leaned in and gently kissed her on the lips. Curana stopped shaking and practically melded into his grasp. She closed her eyes, enjoying every moment of contact with the Spartan. Creed was the only one she had trusted to carry her away from the locker room.

Breaking the kiss, Nathan held her in silence. She tucked her head under his chin and curled in on herself, comforted by the Spartan's strong heart beat.

Nathan actually felt human for the first time since he was thirteen. No war, no fighting, no orders, no training, no weapons, just him and Curana. As soon as the Asari fell asleep he set her down and set the covers over her. He kissed her one last time. "After this, I'll kill whoever sent those sick fucks after you. I promise."

Nathan knew that Spartans never make promises except to their superior officers, but he wasn't just a Spartan now. To be a Spartan you had to give your mind, heart, and soul to the UNSC. But all that belonged to Curana now.

He wasn't just any Spartan, he was her Spartan, and he just had the biggest wakeup call-which he had been waiting for since he was eighteen, when he stopped resisting. The one thing that would keep him going in the future was the thought of returning to the _Legion_ again.

Xxx

Within the next six hours, several things happened. Firstly, several key members of TRDR were arrested, and many others named. The Director of TRDR himself had turned them over before the interrogation was over, having looked over the files of one of his Chiefs and discovering files relating to research into the Citadel Technology and their motivation for assisting humanity. He had not ordered any interrogation of Curana and was all too glad to give over people who 'did not know how to at least act human.'

The next was the formation of Citadel Soldiers and Human marines being set up in Pelicans, Mauler-Hunters, and even a few Phantoms. Divard'Fersa himself was driving one of the Phantoms. There would be over three hundred soldiers taking part in the attack while several platoons supported by artillery and heavy armour would distract the covenant defenders around Theta.

The UNSC had an air craft carrier accompanied by a pair of Mako Corvettes as air support out in the ocean near the peninsula that would launch an attack on the covenant. While the UNSC took on the covenant outside of Theta Site, the three hundred some soldiers would assault the site from within the perimeter.

Creed along with Omega and Shadow Teams-joined by Lieutenant Shaw and Sergeant Reese would be linking up with Zulu and Sierra to take down covenant defences and allow. Shadow Team would attack the covenant air craft where they were docked while the Spartans made a distraction by triggering the ammunition depots. Xeno would lead a small platoon to take a covenant outpost just outside the site and further distract the covenant from the deployment of the main attack force.

Three Spartans and six ODSTs were already suited up and going through their equipment.

Scar finished cycling cartridges into a clip and slid it unto his sniper rifle, chambering the first round and turning the safety off. He slid a pair of pistols into holsters on his thighs and grabbed his combat knife, checking the edges before setting it in its sheath and grabbing a shotgun and a bandoleer of shells. He also took plasma grenades.

Smithy loaded her grenade launcher and hang it on her back before taking an MA37 and added the assault rifle to her arsenal. She chose to hang a silenced SMG from one of her shoulders and a pistol on her left thigh. She examined her own combat knife and sat down, sharpening it.

Nathan did not have the same vigilant stance his fellow Spartans had. It seemed as though he was on automatic pilot. Pulling his helmet on, he slowly reached for his pistol, checked the chamber, and slid it into his holster. Next he took his DMR and slid a clip into it, examined the scope, and hang it on his back. After that he looked at the plasma sword he had taken so long ago, which he had left in his barracks on the _Legion_. Attaching that to his other thigh, he grabbed a bandoleer of grenades and finally an M247H that he would use to clear the first wave of enemies when they landed. He had no other ammunition boxes for it, but Sergeant Anton was carrying two more along with his usual DMR and pistol.

"Lieutenant Creed," Nathan looked up from where he slid a spare knife into a sheath attached to his left crus (lower leg). Captain Archer had entered the locker room. "General Norris sent this to you." She tapped a command into his gauntlet, and suddenly the emblem of a 1st Lieutenant appeared on his visor and changed to the double bars of a Captain. "Two full squadrons from Omega Company are being rerouted to provide support for the invasion, and more will be in reserve and prepared for an Orbital Drop, I trust you to make good use of them."

"I will ma'am." Nathan stood up to his full height and snapped a salute.

"And don't worry about Curana; she's under heavy guard from some of my most trusted marines, and as a further precaution I've kept their names hidden from the records and pulled twenty other marines away from their positions so nobody tries bribing or replacing them for another shot at her." Archer said. "General Norris spoke with their leader, Executor Palin over something they call FTL Communications...needless to say he was far from happy, but he seemed a little better after we promised to extradite those responsible to the Asari government...if we win this."

"You mean 'when' we win this," Nathan hefted his chain gun.

"I can see you don't like to lose," Archer noted.

"I never did," Creed smiled under his helmet. "I've never lead a failed mission and I won't start today."

"I wouldn't have it any other way Captain Creed," Archer said. "You're out in forty minutes, report to the hangar bay."

"Shadow, Omega!" Creed barked.

The fire teams rushed out of the locker room.

Archer stopped Creed. "If you want to say good bye to her, now is the chance."

Creed nodded. He stopped off in the medical bay, and handed over his machine gun to Scar. Stepping into the medical bay, which had taken on several newly wounded marines and pilots, he made his way to Curana's bed.

She opened her eyes as he reached her. "It's time, isn't it?"

He took off his helmet, and nodded. "It is...and I'm sorry that I have to go."

"I understand Nate," Curana smiled. "Just come back."

For the first time in his life, he actually feared having to go to battle. What if he died and left Curana alone? What if Maevor, Talo, Doro, Ataca, Genia, Garrus and all the others died and she was left with strangers? What if more people took advantage of her weakened state? This was not something that any amount of training could prepare him for.

"Curana...after we win here...after this planet is saved..." Nathan took in a deep breath. "Take me back with you."

She paused, looking up at him and sitting up a bit. "What?"

"I can't do this, not anymore." Nathan shook his head. "For the past decade I've been flying with somebody else in control. Every shot I fired; every throat I've cut, every bone I've broken...it hasn't been me, it's been Nathan 092." He was whispering to her. "After this...I want to leave the UNSC...I don't want to be a soldier...I want my own life before I end up like the Spartan IIs. I've seen them...they don't even wonder about life outside of the fight, they just fight and kill...I can't imagine doing that for all of my life." The very thought of it made him sick. "Please...let me go to the Citadel, let me be free of this obligation. I'm always afraid now; I can barely look at myself in the mirror when I wear this armour now. I just...want it to end." He wasn't afraid for himself though.

For several moments they remained in silence. And then Curana took his hand and kissed him on the lips.

"Nathan...live through this, win this one planet over...and I'll take you away from all of this." Curana promised him. "No military, no being called a Spartan, no fighting, just you. I can do it, I can make the council grant you asylum. I'll do it for you."

"Curana..." He kissed her again. "Thank you-"

"No Nate, thank you for saving me." Curana said, cutting him off.

"Curana," He smiled. "That only makes us even."

She saved him first. She made him wake the hell up.

Xxx

Divard'Fersa was sitting on a crate near his Phantom with several marines and Citadel troopers. As Omega and Shadow Teams approached he looked up and got off of the crate. "Lieutenant, I was made aware that several traitors assaulted Curana, is she in good health?"

"She'll live." Creed replied.

"I suppose that is the most I can hope for until we get back." The Elite turned and went over to where the Phantom was moored. "The frigate is getting into position to deploy us, I suggest you climb aboard."

Shadow and Omega Teams climbed aboard along with three marines and three Citadel troopers that would be guarding the Phantom or providing support for an evacuations.

"Shadow Unit, Omega Unit, are you ready for deployment?" An operator on the bridge asked.

"We're ready," Creed replied. "We'll clear the way for the main invasion force."

"They'll be on stand by, good luck." Archer said. "Deploy Shadow and Omega."

The Phantom hummed to life and flew out of the Hangar.

Xxx

A thirteen Spartans were encamped within the defence perimeter of the Covenant around Theta. They were hidden in the forest, keeping out of sight and using camouflage. As soon as a patrol passed, Fred whispered. "Red Team, move up."

Fred, William, and Kelly got up and advanced slowly, scanning the area ahead and around them with their rifles before crouching. Fred raised his left fist as he crouched and gestured to the left. Grey Team, consisting of A-397 Ashtoreth, B-442 Eric, and B-216 Francis moved up next, moving to the left of Red Team. Blue Team, consisting of the other four Spartan IIIs joined them, and then Gold Team, consisting of Lee, Isaac, and Linda.

"Jun, Linda you have point. Will, Isaac cover them. Eric, Kelly, on my flanks. Francis, Ashtoreth, Logan, Donovan, left flank. Lee, Matthew, Duncan, right flank." Fred ordered. "Advance in squad formation behind Jun and Linda."

The Spartans moved until they reached the drop point.

"Drop Point one secure," Linda whispered into her radio, perched under the cover of some bushes while Jun signalled the squad to advance.

"Alright, hold position until Omega arrives." Fred ordered, spreading the team out to cover the perimeter.

For several minutes everything was silent until Donovan spoke up. "I see something, ten meters-" A beam rifle shot through the brush and punched through his armour and through the right side of his chest. It knocked him back on his back, leaving him staring at the sky as pain lanced through him.

"Contact!" Will fired over Donovan as Eric dragged the wounded Spartan to cover. "Jun!"

"I'm on it." Jun said coolly, aiming his rifle and squeezing off one round. "Jackal, sniper, he's down."

"It missed his lung." Eric reported, injecting the wound with biofoam. "We may have more company."

"We already do." Linda said as Eric helped Donovan to his feet.

"Form up and advance! Jun, Linda, cover us! Donovan, stay back!"

"I can fight." Donovan stood and held his DMR.

"Your choice. Go!" Fred shouted, and all eleven Spartans rushed through the trees, firing quick bursts or single shots ahead as enemy soldiers opened fire, peppering the ground with bursts of plasma and sending dirt flying up.

A fuel rod round struck the ground in front of them, and before Fred could shout out that there were Hunters ahead Francis has loaded his rocket launcher and fired two shots ahead without stopping. One Hunter went down and the other roared in frustration before firing its own fuel rod cannon. The Spartans moved aside to avoid shots, but didn't stop advancing.

As Kelly reached the Hunter, she whipped out her knife and hoisted herself up onto its shoulders. She sank her knife down through its open visor and cut repeatedly through the worms within. The Hunter fell with a howl of despair, and Kelly leaped off as it crushed a pair of grunts behind it. Soon the plasma fire ceased as several Jackals pulled back.

"Looks clear." Will said, glancing at Fred.

"Be advised Sierra Leader you have Cloaked Elites!" Linda, who had thermal scanning on her scope yelled before a single shot struck an invisible Elite and blew its head open.

After that, several plasma swords flared to life. Eric ducked under one and slammed the butt of his shotgun into the Elite's chest followed by a single shot to its face. Ashtoreth backed up to avoid being decapitated and caught the Elite's next swing, and swung the alien to the ground where she cut its throat with her knife.

The Spartans engaged multiple Elites wielding spears and plasma swords. By the time the fight was over nearly twenty or thirty Elites lay dead and all thirteen Spartans still stood. Donovan looked at the hole blown through him. "Damn...if that hit anything I'd have been dead."

Scanning him, Francis examined the wound. "It hit just above your lungs. It'll hurt to put stress on that right arm. Are you left handed?"

"You bet." Donovan hefted his weapon.

"Sierra Leader, this is Legend Oh Six, Omega Team is inbound, imminent." Archer's voice could be heard over the radio chatter.

"Copy Legend Oh Six, LZ is secure." Fred replied.

Several moments later a Phantom flew in over the clearing.

"Damn!" Duncan raised his DMR, but Fred forced it back down.

"That's their transport! Stand down!" Fred shouted over the hum of engines before three Spartans dropped down.

Scar examined the Spartans before him. "I gotta say...you Regular Seconds and Thirds are really...generic." He referred to their olive drab green armour. "I'm no critic but I thought I would have some kind of way to keep track of you all."

"Where is Omega Leader?" Fred asked.

"You wouldn't know, would you? You were sent out before the Carrier jumped." Nathan stepped forward. "Lieutenant Chase is dead. I've been promoted to Captain and given command of Sierra Two Omega Company and this mission."

"The Covenant Security Center is just a hundred yards that way sir." Fred pointed to the west. "If we're right they still aren't aware of our presence if that patrol that hit us didn't get any warnings off."

"We'd better hurry up and make our move then." Creed hefted his machine gun. "Advance in fire teams! Charge!"

Sixteen Spartans charged on the hills separating them from the security control center, which operated the automated turrets and cameras along with other sensors all around the Theta Site. It was mostly unoccupied except for two squads of Grunts, several Jackals posted around with carbines and beam rifles and possibly a few elites inside. The Spartans spread out, firing single shots or bursts from their pistols or rifles. Creed sprayed the roof with his machine gun, taking down two Jackals while the others took cover and returned fire.

Several shots struck the Spartans as they finally reached the base. By then the grunts had retreated into the two story high circular structure made of cement. It had once been a human base that supported only seven militia members and a single warthog. (Think the bases from Blood Gulch) It had a big hole on the top of it leading into the command center and the garage had a set of ladders that could go up into the command center also.

"Anybody have a jet pack?" Creed asked as Linda, Jun, and Scar picked off three of the Grunts too slow to get inside the base.

"Francis, Donovan, Will, you're up." Fred nodded to the three Spartans, who rushed forward and triggered their jet packs.

"Don't forget about me!" Smithy triggered her own jet pack and joined them on the roof of the base.

"On my mark, three, two-" Smithy triggered a plasma grenade while the other three Spartans primed fragmentation grenades. "Now!" They tossed them down at once and heard multiple screams as the aliens within screamed in pain when they were torn apart or incinerated.

"Fred, you're up, take your fire team and clear the command center. Kelly, clear the garage." Creed ordered. He had read the names of every Spartan on his HUD and memorized them.

Kelly led Eric and Logan into the garage where they found a pair of elites trying to escape in a Revenant. Logan leaped onto the driver's side as it started up and swiftly cut the Elite's throat. Logan shot the other point blank with his pistol, piercing the shield with two shots and blowing its head open with a third.

Advancing up the cement ramp, Fred led Ashtoreth and Matthew inside the base and eliminated the last of the covenant inside. "Clear!"

"We have a revenant intact sir." Kelly reported.

"Alright, disable the security and scramble communications." Creed ordered as he and the other Spartans occupied the base, going up the cement ramps that led to the roof. "Jun, Linda, Scar, you're my sniper team. Take position in the hills and cover us."

"We're on it." Jun said before all three snipers vanished.

"Lieutenant, communications and automated security are disabled." Fred reported from inside, looking up through the opening in the roof to Creed. "We're ready to receive the invasion force."

"Alright," Creed opened a link to Xeno team. "Xeno this is Omega, how are you holding up?"

"We've occupied our designated position and our other teams have regrouped. The covenant are pushing but we're holding!" Maevor shouted. "As soon as the invasion force lands we'll push to the Theta Site and regroup with you!"

"Get ready, we're bringing them in now." Creed said before he pulled out a single flare gun and shot a bright green flare into the air.

Snipers positioned in the hills closer to the UNSC lines spotted the flare and reported it to the Legionnaire.

"This is Shadow, we're inbound. We'll help you take the main compound." Shepard spoke over the radio before a Pelican approached from the hills and dropped Shepard and the rest of Shadow Team on the roof of the outpost.

"So, do you think this will work?" She asked the Spartan.

"I know it will," Creed replied. "Here it goes now, the air support is coming!" He pointed into the distance where The Legionnaire, Goliath, Luna, and all twelve Citadel Frigates moved into position to deploy the invasion force.

Immediately nearly three hundred soldiers of varying races were deployed in Pelicans, Phantoms, and Mauler Hunters. Falcons and Hornets provided escort along with Citadel Gunships carrying fire teams of troops. As they approached, the covenant guarding the perimeter of their final line of defence around Theta Site expected their AA guns to flare to life and swat them from the skies, but nothing happened.

By the time the Field Master shouted a command; missiles flew and blew away covenant turrets and squadrons. The covenant compound was the size of two foot ball fields, and surrounded by walls with turrets and ditches and mine fields. All of this was bypassed as a Pelican hovered over the Covenant fuel depot and dropped four marines down.

The fire team quickly cleared away the grunts guarding the depot and set charges to it before fleeing. The depot detonated and set nearby teams aflame as more fire teams slid down on ropes and began to storm the covenant defences. Soon the UNSC and Citadel forces began a slow push across the battlefield until the covenant were backed up against the final barricade leading to the dig site, consisting of a small gorge with a bridge set up to take digging equipment and troops across.

Xxx

"Omega, this is Xeno we are preparing to attack Covenant Defences from behind. We're at the south west corner of the inner compound." Maevor whispered into his radio. He, Xeno Team, and their platoon were ready to scale the walls and engaged the Covenant.

"This is Omega, keep your troops back until we clear the covenant heavy infantry inside, they have Hunters." Creed replied. "Wait for my signal."

"Copy that-" A series of explosions rang out.

The Spartans of Omega, Sierra, and Zulu had fired with grenade launchers and rocket launchers. There had been two pairs of Hunters and a platoon of enemies within the compound, ready to defend the center at all costs. The center of the dig site, among the remains of human digging equipment and shacks was a single covenant structure of one story in height and looked like a flower that had not yet bloomed.

The Spartans crossed the wall and began to pick off the remaining covenant defenders inside, advancing in fire teams and spraying the Grunts that were too slow. Jun, Linda, and Scar remained on top of the wall, picking off Elites and Jackals with their rifles while the heavy weapons experts finished off the Hunters. By the time it was done not a single Spartan had fallen, but several took hits.

"This is Omega, the dig site is secure!" Creed shouted as Xeno squad and its platoon scaled the far all with grappling hooks.

"This is Captain Dalton!" The familiar voice of the marine from the battle of Haven shouted. "We're kicking ass out here Spartan! Go and see what they want, we'll hold them!"

"I need a team," Creed looked around. "Most of us will stay up here and hold this position, make sure the covenant outside don't take it back. I'll take one full squad with me."

"We're in, that's obvious." Smithy and Scar stepped forward.

"I'll go with two of my team members." Fred said. "Linda! Kelly! Up front, now!"

"Yes sir!" Kelly and Linda lined up alongside Fred.

"I'm not waiting here. Ataca, Genia, Talo, are you with me?" Maevor faced his specialist team.

"You got it." Ataca grinned, sliding a fresh clip into his sniper rifle.

"I won't sit here while you scavenge through alien ruins." Genia shrugged. "Count me in."

"I shall go with you Spectre Sarius," Talo nodded.

"Don't even think of going without us!" Shepard, Williams, Anton, and Connor stepped forward. "We lost three of our friends just trying to snap a few shots of this place, we're going to play through on this."

"Legend Oh Six this is Omega Leader, I'm taking a squad down under the dig site." Creed dropped his nearly empty machine gun and took up his DMR, gathering his team consisting of Six Spartans, two turians, one Krogan, one Quarian, and four ODSTs outside the entrance of the small covenant structure.

"Omega Leader, that structure is a teleporter, a very powerful one. The dig site is several kilometres under the Earth, by that point you'll be beyond our help or communications for a few hours." Captain Archer replied as the Legionnaire hovered over the warzone. "We'll try to send reinforcements down after you soon, but be careful."

"Wait a second! Talo, you cannot be serious!" Tali shouted over the link.

"It is my duty Tali, and I have no intention of dying down there, you need not worry for me." Talo said coolly, reloading his assault rifle.

"Spectre Sarius, the Citadel Fleet will arrive in thirteen hours." Garrus broke in on the conversation. "We'll be up in orbit preparing for the final assault on the covenant fleet. This is Ground Zero for all citadel forces in this region, and could be a turning point in this war. You do what you have to, and we'll handle them up here."

"You got it Captain, we'll have the forerunner artefacts secured within the hour." Maevor replied.

"Make the Urdnot Clan proud Urdnot Ataca, you are one of my greatest warriors, and after this I look forward to seeing your children," Wrex chuckled. "Nothing like the idea of a trip to the female Krogan camps to motivate you."

"Fuck dying, I'm going to live and then I'm going to spend a whole month with in the womens' camp!" Ataca boasted. "But first these Covenant slugs shall be dealt with."

"I have to ask you to wait for me." Several guns came up as an Elite appeared. "I thought we were quite over the part where you aim guns at me every time I show up."

"Divard, I thought you were our air support." Creed raised an eye brow under his visor.

"I was, but then some new information came to me." The Elite said. "Shipmaster Archer?"

"Oh, yes...we have information on a Covenant Colony Ship...the size of a city and appears to be their holy capital. It was on route to one of the locations of the Halo Rings when a fleet began to gather at a nearby staging point the Citadel scout ships had picked up. It appears they felt that Stronghold was more important than the Halo Ring." Archer said. "I'd pay good money to see what would bring them running, especially if they had the urge to send a Prophet up ahead."

"Prophet?" Creed stiffened. "You mean..."

"Yes, the Covenant planned to bring their three High Prophets to this place after they took over Stronghold. But after the Citadel Ships showed up, one of their Prophets was sent on a ship to arrive ahead. The High Prophet of Regret led a small fleet of fifteen capital ships into human space months ago and then appeared where the Holy City had been heading for. Captured covenant archives indicated that he had planned to attempt activating the ring until receiving a withdrawal order alongside Mercy." Silvia said. "Regret is supervising final preparations for the unveiling of something called 'The God Forge'."

"God Forge...why does that make me feel uncomfortable?" Scar asked.

"We don't know what it is, but we suspect it may be an armoury or development facility for Forerunner weapons. The covenant technology is reverse engineered Forerunner technology, much weaker than the original." Doctor Halsey suddenly joined the conversation. "Lieutenant, enter the facility and ascertain its true purpose. Either secure it or destroy it. If you can do neither...we have a backup plan."

"Yes doctor," Creed looked to his team. "Alright...let's go."

They each proceeded one by one into the structure. The humans and aliens behind them stood in a grim silence, wishing their comrades luck.

Creed reached the edge of a disk of light. He took a deep breath. "Here it goes."

He placed one foot on the disk, and then the other.

He vanished n a pillar of light that was there for barely a second. Each of his team mates joined him one by one until all fifteen members of the squadron vanished.

Lieutenant Shaw, who had joined Xeno Squadron's platoon looked to the remaining troops around her. "Set up, we'll be here for a while." As they scattered, she looked to the teleporter. "Good luck, Spartan."

Xxx

All fifteen soldiers appeared on a platform. They were in a gleaming, silver room. The walls had various lights and panels, and looked brand new. There was a single door that led out of the room. Below the platform was darkness.

"Wow...forerunner structure." Williams whispered.

"I'll take point," Creed rushed to the door, which opened as he approached. "Stay close, we don't know what the hell was left down here."

"I don't want to find out, personally." Maevor muttered, following close behind.

Xxx

End of chapter


	15. Chapter 15: The Forge

Mass Effect Wars

Xxx

Chapter 15: The Temple

**Forerunner Structure, 7932 meters beneath the surface of Stronghold**

**125****th**** hour of Covenant Invasion (13 hours to Citadel Fleet Arrival)**

"Archer was right, we've lost all communications." Shepard finished sliding a fresh clip into her pistol. "So what's our next plan?"

"Well, we'll need a team to guard the exit first," Nathan said from where he was examining the control panel that rested between two doors that stood across from the one they just came out of.

Omega, Sierra, Xeno and Shadow Teams along with the Elite Divard'Fersa stood out in a long corridor. It was big enough to drive a Scorpion through and have space for a Warthog on either side and was high enough for a Pelican to land in. Scar was sitting on a covenant crate that had been left there along with other crates of covenant equipment. He was adjusting his sniper rifle's optics.

Smithy was checking her silenced SMG. Satisfied with it, she slid a fresh clip in and secured it to her back in favour of her MA37.

Fred, Linda, and Kelly stood at attention, ready to react to any orders given to them. Talo'Serath seemed to mimic them. The Quarian seemed to be like an un-augmented version of a Spartan. He was always dedicated to his duty and his job and despite his rather plain demeanour he was very optimistic about every battle.

Maevor was leaning against the wall next to the control panel, talking with Urdnot Ataca in the Krogan native language-surprisingly Maevor had dabbed in linguistics as well. Genia was going through a crate of covenant weapons with Divard, who showed her a beam rifle.

Shepard's Shadow members remained by the door that led back to the room they had been teleported down into.

"Anton, you guard the door." Shepard said.

"Aye ma'am." Anton hefted his shotgun.

"He'll need some help, I'll stay with him." Genia stood up straight, holding a plasma repeater.

"Alright, we have our way out secured. We'll need to decide how we'll go through with this." Creed pulled out a small projector from a slot in his armour. "Luckily Halsey's science team gracefully explored and mapped this complex."

The image showed that the complex was ten stories high, and each level was the size of several foot ball fields. They were on the fifth level, right at the western edge of it. It was marked as a public entry way.

"The base uses a series of teleporters that can take you from one side of the base to the other." Nathan explained. "If Halsey's data is correct, and the hunch about that Prophet, we'll have four objectives."

"Objective One: Seize and secure the command center." A room near the center of the top floor was highlighted. "Objective Two: Secure or eliminate Prophet of Regret. The Prophets carry emergency transponders embedded into their flesh so we can track that to...here!" Another room began to pulse, this time green. "Objective Three: Eliminate all covenant in this facility. We can cross that bridge later, for now we'll focus on the first two and objective four: find out just what the hell this base can do. Thanks to all the noise they've been making, the covenant have activated a few things, so we can find out from the command center. We'll split into three teams. Fred, you're in charge of Alpha."

"Alpha will make a nice big distraction by heading up through the main facilities. Meanwhile I'll take Bravo and get Regret." Nathan looked at Fred. "You'll have five other team members."

"Kelly, you're with me." Fred looked to the female Spartan. "I'll take Serath, Scar, Ataca, and Connor also."

"Sarius, you take Shepard and Williams in Charlie; I'll take Divard, Smithy and Linda. You'll be going for the command center. Fersa, Smithy, you're both coming with me so we can either put Regret in chains or put a bullet in him."

Creed dismissed the hologram and stood. "We all have our own objectives; don't worry about the other teams. We'll take Regret and this entire base by the time this is over, now get going."

"Good luck!" Anton shouted as the teams left the corridor.

Xxx

"Noble hierarchs! The temple is besieged!" Cermora'Fasen called as he entered the room Regret had taken as his personal chambers. It was a large semi circle shaped room that had no ceiling or roof within sight. Regret hovered over a platform that was connected to the entrance by a simple walk way. "The demons have infiltrated our sanctum and are splitting into groups so they may spread their desecration to every inch of this holy site. And the traitor Divard'Fersa is with them."

Regret floated down to where the holographic images of his two fellow prophets sat. "This cannot be accepted Shipmaster, I hope you are taking steps to prevent their interference."

"My soldiers shall engage them, but I fear that more shall be sent to harass us soon." Cermora looked to the four Elite honour guards. "I shall send more of the royal guards to assure your protection High Prophet of Regret."

"Shipmaster, we have some rather disturbing news." Truth spoke up. "The tide is beginning to change on several fronts. On the humans' capital planet our fleet has achieved orbital superiority and all of their ships have scattered. But we cannot risk burning their surface and they are well aware of this, so their ground forces and their smaller warships on the surface are harassing our legions. Other fleets targeting their remaining colonies in this sector are being called back for the most part and those left behind are having difficulty wiping out the stranded vermin. But the worst concerns your own campaign."

"From what I can see it goes well with the exception of the demon." Cermora said.

"No, the humans have called upon their new heretic allies in great numbers. A battle Fleet rushes from the unknown parts of this sector." Mercy replied. "You must hurry Shipmaster, or you shall be overrun. Just more than half a standard day on the human planet of Stronghold shall pass before they arrive."

"We shall endeavour to complete our mission." Cermora bowed his head, one arm crossing his chest and the fist pressed over his heart. "My engineers are activating this structure. We shall be prepared before this fleet arrives."

"I would hope so Shipmaster, so far you have not presented much in the way of victories, we would hate for your fate to match the Fleet Master who lost the sacred ring to the human's demon." Truth's eyes narrowed.

"I am no failure like that heretic, the humans shall burn, and so shall their wretched fleet." Cermora promised his hierarchs. "The God Forge shall make certain that the Sacred Journey will no longer be delayed. By this time tomorrow we shall ascend to join our gods with you leading us to salvation!"

"Make us proud shipmaster, all of our hopes rest with you." Truth said before he and Mercy vanished.

"Continue with your work Shipmaster, I shall meet the demons when they come to claim me." Regret lowered his throne down to Cermora's level.

"Your holiness?" Cermora's mandibles spread a bit.

"I must see this through, and I know the demons shall seek me out. Go shipmaster; lead our covenant on to victory or death." As several royal guards entered the room, Regret floated up.

"I shall not fail you noble hierarch!" Cermora called. "These demons shall die by my hand, no more shall my brethren fall to these abominations!"

He rushed out of the room, seeking glory and victory for him and the Covenant.

Xxx

"Hold on," Scar whispered, raising one hand to stop the group behind him. He stood out in the middle of a large room that was many floors high but narrow in comparison, with stair ways connecting different levels going downwards to a sort of plaza. The entire room most likely formed a cross shape, and Alpha Team had just entered one of these segments.

Scar slowly approached the edge of the level he was on and aimed his sniper rifle down. "It looks clear from here."

"Wait, up high...don't move." Fred said.

Scar dared to look up, and saw several objects floating down towards them. They were streamlined, angular, silver with blue eyes in the middle. They were about the size of a Grunt and made an odd humming sound as they lowered down to Scar's level. There was six of them, one of them advancing forward and looking at Scar.

"Ah! Finally! Systems are operating at full capacity and what is more we may begin!" Another object floated down from the ceiling.

This one was spherical shaped, much smaller than the other drones and spoke with a computerized voice. "I am 925 Destined Loyalty, monitor of Installation 'Forge'."

"What...the...hell?" Scar backed up.

"Odd, I see there are life forms among your group that are not Reclaimers." The sphere, Destined Loyalty said, observing the rest of Alpha as it came out into the open. "And what is more your combat skins may be ill suited for this operation...but oh well, I have worked with less."

"What are you?" Fred demanded.

"Reclaimer, I have already stated my identity, I am 925 Destined Loyalty, monitor of Installation-" Destined Loyalty began

"No you floating light bulb he means what the hell are you not what you're supposed to do." Scar growled impatiently. "Are you a forerunner AI?"

"I am an Artificial Intelligence, but I am programmed with limitations to my capabilities." Destined Justice said. "I must admit I find it worrisome that there are so many unauthorized life forms trying to access my database. Can you explain this breach in security?"

"Hold on...I'm pulling up the Halo Data Sierra 117 submitted." Fred opened a list of data that appeared on his visor. "Monitor...display primary function."

Sighing impatiently, the Monitor said. "Very well Reclaimer...primary function is the maintenance and operation of Forge Facility and all incomplete or structures and vessels that are yet to be deployed. I must admit I got so impatient I set myself and the facility to hibernation about...seven hundred years ago, give or take several decades. My last project was complete, and after picking up pieces of random meteorites for nearly a hundred times as long I felt very disappointed that no Reclaimers were present to initiate deployment protocol."

Moving over to what looked like a busted section of wall; the Monitor began to repair the circuitry within, using another drone as an assistant. "When one of the installations suffered a failure in its operating system, resulting in the Monitor going rampant and triggering the fail safe, I was tasked with creating a replacement for it. I must admit I am proud of how I can make each design unique in its very own way. The fail safe system was a concept for preventing an outbreak, and I must admit it worked too well."

"Wait, installations." Kelly cut the Monitor off. "Is this facility a construction facility?"

"Affirmative Reclaimer, and it is by far the best." Destined Loyalty returned its attention to the group. "I have overseen hundreds of projects from fleets to entire structures. The last one was particularly hard because every detail must be placed correctly into it, and the resources within this system were somewhat scarce. It would require the combined material of say...a standard asteroid belt, and that had been mined entirely for a recent project. I would have used closer resources, but protocol dictates I may not use resources on this planet's surface for construction purposes."

"The system doesn't have an asteroid belt, a few rocks flying around from time to time but nothing much." Connor spoke up. "When you live here most of your life you learn a few things about your own system."

"Captain Creed, this is Alpha Leader and we just made one big discovery sir." Fred said into his radio.

Xxx

"I'm kind of busy here Alpha Leader!" Creed shouted as he put a round into a Jackal's head and then took cover behind a pillar. "What is it?"

"We found a Monitor unit sir, and it's confirmed our suspicions. This facility is a construction facility. And I'm guessing it makes some pretty big things."Fred answered. "From what I can tell it has a seven hundred year old...something hidden here."

"To be more precise it is beneath this facility." Destined Loyalty, having hacked into their line said. "If you wish I may prepare a transfer to the Construction Oversight Control Center. It will allow you to examine the construction thoroughly and approve it for activation."

"How about we follow the spooky floating eye after we kill off all of the covenant in this base?" Scar suggested.

"I agree, we can't afford to deviate from our mission objective." Maevor said.

"Alright, for now continue on to your objectives! See if that Monitor can help us out a bit!" Creed shouted as he, Divard, Linda and Smithy pushed back the covenant defenders.

"I will gladly offer my assistance to you, Reclaimer, I can plainly see that you are the designated squadron leader present." Destined Loyalty said.

"Good!" Remembering the information on Halo Sierra 117's reports showed, Creed thought back to the Sentinels. "How many sentinel units do you have?"

"This facility is quite undermanned in terms of security, but I possess sixty four active Sentinels." Destined Loyalty stated.

"Activate them all and have them focus on the hostiles! Alpha Leader, link your HUD to our new friend so he can tell good from bad!" Creed ducked to reload.

"I have already confirmed your squad members Reclaimer...activating Sentinel Security Defence Grid. Deploy all units and purge facility of hostiles." Destined Loyalty announced.

As a trio of Covenant squadrons rushed into Alpha's area and began to open fire on the team, the drones accompanying Destined Loyalty along with three more that came down from up above began to fire on them, using a form of energy beam against them. Fred and Talo, the closest to the railing, watched from cover as Destined Loyalty and his sentinels eliminated most of the covenant and forced the survivors back.

"Alright Alpha, we have some help, let's use it! Advance!" Fred barked before he and Talo vaulted over the railing and landed in crouches.

"My sentinels have engaged your enemies Reclaimer, but they are badly outnumbered, I estimate several hundred enemy units, many of them heavy infantry." Destined Loyalty floated over alpha as the team members rushed to the far side of the large room. "If I might suggest, a tactical purge of compartments containing large amounts of enemy units may clear the majority of this facility enough for security sentinels to adequately eliminate the rest."

"Glad to see the talking bowling ball is so at ease with a fire fight." Scar commented as Alpha rushed through the next door leading them closer to their goal. They came out into a large open room with several portable shields set up. Several squads of covenant began to exchange fire with Destined Loyalty's sentinel escorts. Several sentinels fell, but they kept advancing nonetheless.

Xxx

**Stronghold Surface**

**New Berlin**

**126****th**** hour of covenant invasion**

New Berlin was much smaller than Haven, so it was much easier to evacuate at first. But then covenant armies began to deploy into the city via drop ship and a destroyer that had moved off after the Olympus Cannon became active. Now on the outskirts, several companies of marines were ferrying thousands of civilians to transports that landed at a makeshift base. The base was at the top of a hill and gave the humans supremacy over the area.

Master Sergeant Abigail McNeal was surprisingly the highest ranking officer left among the several hundred gathered marines. They were all remnants of squadrons and platoons that had managed to retreat to the small base where she and what was left of November Company had managed to secure an Evacuation Point and LZ for later troop deployments.

Behind the small base was a high way that ran into the neighbourhood from the northeast, cut south past the base, and made a turn west towards the coast. The highway had ended up being the victim of a bombing run and now made a nice little ramp down to the ground right in the middle of Covenant Territory.

McNeal was watching the covenant patrols from the still stable part of the bridge with her sniper rifle. "Able Leader to Able 4, do you have a site of Covvie CO yet?"

"Negative Able Leader, just more patrols, but I see a pretty looking factory we could use as an advanced outpost." Able 4 replied from where he was perched on a nearby apartment building. "Three stories high, looks pretty much sealed, but I'd bet the Colonial Emergency Bunker under it might still be connected to the tunnel network under this area. We might find some more civilians and other units if we use them."

"Alright, tell Sergeant MacDuff to get Fire Team Bravo to check out the nearest tunnel points. Able Team, form up and rendezvous at the construction site south of the foundry." McNeal spotted the construction site. It had been for what would be an office building, but was now three stories of ladders, cat walks and girders. That would be a good place to wait for a main force to be sent from Alpha Base.

"Moving Able Leader," five different voices replied before all went silent.

McNeal silently moved down the bridge until she reached solid ground. She took cover as a ghost passed by. Checking to make sure the coast was clear, she moved out and set aside her sniper rifle for her shotgun. The marine rushed to a crashed Pelican and crouched against one of the disconnected wings. A pair of Grunts were standing over a dead woman, looking at a necklace one of them had taken off of her. Its companion smacked it on the back of the head and snarled in its own language. The other recoiled and dropped the necklace.

It shrugged and began to speak as it turned to look at its apparent superior, but only saw the red grunt lying on the ground, bleeding out from its neck before McNeal gripped its head from behind and snapped its neck. Two dead grunts would go unnoticed among the dozens of corpses all around, so the NCO moved on.

Upon reaching the construction site, she crouched in the shadow of a large hauler. The moon was bright tonight, so she had to be careful where she stepped. She saw a Jackal approaching ,cradling a carbine in its arms. She held her shotgun close in case it passed to close by. It at first passed right by her, and she relaxed, but one of her feet slid out from under her and shifted some rocks. It spun and began to raise its rifle before a single 'psew' broke the silence, and the Jackal fell.

Corporal Ulrich Bauer came into view, a silenced pistol in hand. He lowered it. "Close call there Sarge."

"Good timing Corporal, hate to blow my cover." McNeal stood up. "Where's the rest of the team?"

Ulrich pointed up to the catwalks above, and four other marines stood with rifles in hand. One waved to McNeal, and she returned the gesture.

"We've been getting comm. traffic from Sector 4, tons of it, it looks like a shit load of Spartans have been deployed." Bauer said.

"We can worry about that later; we have to get this place ready for a platoon of leathernecks ready to occupy it." McNeal replied as four marines rappelled down to their level and moved towards the gate separating them from the road that was the only thing between them and the factory.

"Clear," One marine patted the back of the woman next to him and she rushed across the street, sweeping the area with her rifle.

She crouched next to the doors and signalled 'all clear'. Bauer, McNeal, and another marine rushed to her, where Bauer began to force the door open. When it was open, McNeal called her last two marines forward and had them enter the structure.

"Looks clear," One said.

"Split up into two teams and secure the area, find the entry point to the bunker and signal for Alpha Platoon to move to the factory." McNeal ordered.

The squad split into two fire teams and searched the factory from top to bottom.

"All clear, and we found the entry point." Bauer's two marines looked down at a circular hatch built into the floor as Bauer hacked into the security system.

The hatch hissed open, and four guns pointed up. Bauer and his marines aimed their rifles back down at a fire team of militia.

"Alpha Platoon?" Bauer asked.

"Scout Team Able?" The Sergeant challenged.

"Fucking A," Bauer hoisted the Sergeant up. "Welcome to the new front line base Sarge."

"Alpha, move up." More marines poured out of the tunnel. "What's the plan McNeal?"

"We have two units of Scorpion Tanks and a squadron of Hornets moving in to attack the covenant base. We'll lead an infantry attack from the south east side." McNeal replied. "Get ready Sergeant, we're moving out."

Xxx

"Alright, let her rip!" Warrant Officer Duvall had fought at the battle of Reach and succeeded in evacuating tens of thousands of civilians using nothing but a small platoon of marines led by a Spartan-whom Duvall never saw after the operation. He had managed to escape Reach on the UNSC Resonance and had ended up at Stronghold with a promotion from Sergeant Major. Now here he was on the roof of a warehouse about to drop a crate of explosives on a covenant position.

"Bombs away!" Specialist Walker placed one foot on the crate and with one swift shove sent it over the edge.

Specialist Bourne held the detonator while the third member of Duvall's team watched the crate's descent. Corporal Westin was particularly good at making good guesses. "OK...now!"

Bourne hit the trigger, and the crate detonated feet above a squad of covenant who had just begun to look up, wondering why a shadow was covering them. The entire squad and the two Ghosts accompanying them were wiped out.

"Enemy squad successfully destroyed." Duvall said into his radio.

"Rodger that, Kilo 5-5 ready for quick evac. You have two more squads moving in, we'll let Sergeant Patton and their heavy artillery handle it." The Pilot of Duvall's drop ship said.

"No need, I have the artillery right here." All four marines hefted rocket launchers as several Grunts led by an Elite entered the street, soon joined by a second squadron.

"Alright...now." all four of them fired, and their rockets tore up the squadrons. Both Elites and several Grunts fled, but the second salvo took all but one Elite out. The Elite almost reached an alley before Bourne dropped his launcher, pulled out his sniper rifle and planted one round into its head.

"Alright, three squads successfully dismantled. Begin evac." Duvall nodded to hsi team as a Pelican dropped down onto the roof top.

"Any word from McNeal over on the outskirts?" Duvall asked.

"They're beginning an assault on the enemy base in the area." The pilot replied as the four climbed in. "We're heading there next to support them, Captain Dalton is moving units into the area to secure it."

Xxx

Well over Twenty Royal Guards stood in the area between the Prophet and the approaching attackers. There was also a platoon's worth of regular infantry setting up barricades and fortifications.

Bravo Team was just two rooms away from the first set of barricades. Three Sentinels hovered overhead while Destined Loyalty-who had transferred from Fred's team to Creed's as Creed was the commanding officer hovered next to the Spartan.

"Excellent, the enemy numbers have dramatically decreased," Destined Loyalty began to hum as he went over to a panel in the wall. "Your main combat team is still engaged with a large amount of infantry but are clearing their way to their objective. Your third team has reached the command center."

"The little bowling ball is right, we managed to clear it. We took some engineers alive." Shepard spoke over the radio.

"The largest concentration of enemies in this facility is in two locations. The first is down at the Transport Center on Sublevel 3. That leads directly to the structure itself." Destined Loyalty said. "The other is right ahead, numbering around fifty. All of them appear to be heavy infantry, all armed."

"Well ain't that just great?" Smithy asked rhetorically.

"Is the one known as Regret there?" Creed asked the Monitor.

"The enemy leader, designated Regret is located at the very end of your path, Reclaimer." Designated Loyalty replied. "All that is needed is to-" One Sentinel above exploded as a plasma beam struck it. "Oh my!" The other two went down, and a trio of Elites leaped down from an upper balcony.

"Heretic! Traitor!" The lead Elite shouted as it activated its plasma sword, revealing Cermora'Fasen. "Divard'Fersa, you shall pay for your betrayal!"

"Cermora, ever the loyal attack dog." Divard drew his own plasma sword. "Very well, I shall indulge you, young one."

The two Elites leaped forward and clashed in a flash of plasma. Smithy dodged the second Elite and slammed the butt of her rifle into the side of its head. Creed ducked under a slash and drew his own plasma sword, impaling his target through it while Smithy repeatedly fired bursts from her SMG into her own target. The Elite cut her SMG in half, so she brought up her assault rifle and emptied the entire clip into the Zealot, which had already lost its shields. It's armour took most of the brunt, and it managed to dive to the left to throw off her aim. Her gun clicked, empty, and she reached for another clip, but Linda put a single round into the Elite's skull.

Cermora and Divard exchanged blows. Divard slammed an upper cut into Cermorea's jaws, and tried to bisect him, but the Shipmaster parried and slammed one foot into Divard's gut. The elderly Elite slammed into a wall, and ducked just in time to avoid being decapitated when Cermora jammed his blade into the wall. Divard slammed his left elbow into Cermora's ribs and then angled his shoulder before launching himself off the wall, ramming into the Ship Master.

They both rolled, leaving Cermora's plasma sword as it deactivated and clattered to the floor and Divard's where he had dropped it. Divard looked to the two Spartans. "Go now! I'll deal with this arrogant youngling!" To emphasize this he pulled Cermora into a head lock to stall him.

"Smithy, Linda, on me! Move it!" Creed tugged Smithy away and they rushed to the final door.

"I must warn you Reclaimer, though you will have adequate cover, the enemy outnumbers you greatly. I am diverting remaining nearby Sentinels to assist." A now online Destined Loyalty floated to the Spartans. "I myself shall take part in this, neutralization of enemy commanding units is key to the security of this facility."

"We need their commander alive, the rest are expendable, but if they surrender-which I doubt by the way, put them under guard." Creed slid a clip into his DMR and slid it on his back, taking up a plasma rifle. "Linda, you and I will go first and take left. Smithy, take right with Sparky here." He gestured to Destined Loyalty.

"Pardon me Reclaimer but I am not 'Sparky', I am Destined-"

"It's a code name for this one mission, I won't waste precious seconds with a long name." Creed growled. "Are you ready?"

"I am."

Creed opened the door and rushed through. "Go! Go! Go! Take them!"

He fired his plasma rifle as multiple plasma shots pelted his shields. By the time he crouched into cover behind a metal barricade that slid out of the floor, his shields had dropped and his armour had two partially melted spots on the hest plate and right thigh. Linda followed him, getting off one shot-most likely a solid kill before she joined him. Creed fired his plasma rifle over his barricade at the covenant as Smithy rushed inside and took cover on the right side of the room.

The room itself was extremely large, enough to house a fire fight several times the size of the one that was currently going on with nearly forty or so Elites against three Spartans and a Monitor. There were metal pillars every twenty feet or so and barricades sprang up out of the floor or shields formed to entirely block off passages. The Covenant took advantage of this and had a perimeter set up at the far side of the room, which must have been several hundred meters.

Destined Loyalty fired a laser beam from his eye that cut down an Elite each time he fired it. But the beam took a moment to break the shielding, and his own shielding could only take so much. Hovering next to Smithy and well out of the line of fire, the Monitor communicated with local Sentinel teams. Smithy fired a grenade that took out one Elite that was a little too brave and had moved ahead of its fellow soldiers.

"Reclaimer, I shall deactivate all of the barriers, I suggest you find cover." The Monitor said as it and Smithy moved behind a pillar. Smithy slid a fresh grenade into her launcher while Creed tossed away his now spent plasma rifle and took out his DMR.

"How many grenades do you have for that?" Creed asked as he and Linda moved behind the nearest pillar in preparation of the coming fire fight.

"UH...fourteen, then there's four fragmentation grenades, a pair of plasma grenades, and a spike grenade." Smithy counted her arsenal. "Plenty of ammo for my other guns though-"

"Sparky, drop the barriers!" Creed shouted.

"Stand by." Two seconds of plasma fire later, every single energy barrier vanished and every regular barrier slid into its hiding place. At least ten or eleven elites were exposed and close enough for the two Spartans, Destined Loyalty ,and four Sentinels that showed up to hammer into.

Creed popped five shots into a shielded Elite and a sixth one into its skull. Smithy fired her grenade, aiming high enough so that when it came down it struck an Elite right in the chest. When it went off, both the Elite and a third elite were reduced to a mist of purple spray. Linda landed her last two rounds into one target each and ejected her empty clip. The Sentinels mowed down three of the other Elites before the covenant began to reorganize.

"This is Bravo, engaging main enemy forces, Alpha Team is to form up into two separate teams! Fred, take your team and meet up with us, we need all the guns we can get! The other team is to head to the Transit Station on the third floor and see what they can find out!" Creed ordered.

"Alright! Kelly, take a team up to Transit! The rest of you follow me!" The rest of Fred's orders were lost over the sound of gun fire.

"You might want to hurry Reclaimer, if the structure is compromised before proper protocol is added to the operation system, the hostiles may make use of it." Destined Loyalty stated.

"What the hell is down there anyways?" Creed asked.

"I am not authorized to disclose that information until you are able to activate it." The Monitor replied.

Creed growled and squeezed off shots at Elites. "I." BANG. "Fucking." BANG. "Hate." BANG. "PROTOCOL!" BANGBANGBANGBANG!

Xxx

"Care to tell me what the hell you think you're doing with my team's hogs?" The newly promoted Master Sergeant Amos growled as he and what was considered the Legionnaire's A-Team approached their Pelicans, which had been holding Gauss Hogs moments ago but now were being loaded with some blocky sort of vehicle that looked like a more combat oriented and less bulky version of a Gremlin.

"This, Sergeant Amos, is your new transport into the combat zone." Master Sergeant Butler stated as he hopped down from one Pelican's trooper bay. "These are brand new and in a few months you'll see these being used in combat. The M57 APC, or as I like to call it, the Gator, because this son of a bitch is armoured enough to take a hit from a Revenant, maybe a few hits actually, and her teeth can rip a platoon to pieces."

He pointed out the weapons. "Two machine guns, M41-A variants, lighter and smaller so we could fit them into the design and use them successfully, they'll tear up any infantry that come at you. And then we have the main teeth." He pointed to a double barrelled turret mounted on the top closer to the front. "These are a lighter version of a Scorpion's main gun, they'll launch high explosive rounds and they'll tear through a Wraith after a few salvos, maybe two or three if you hit the driver's hatch each time. A ghost on the other hand...you'll pity the bastard driving it. Not sure about Hunters though, feel free to test it out."

"Will do, but why are we being given experimental wheels?" Specialist MacLeod asked. "Can anybody even drive that?"

"Corporal Martin was transferred to your team to handle that until you all have it down." Butler stated as three more marines joined Amos, MacLeod, and Lyon. "And this will be your squad's second fire team. Corporal Donald, PFC Chen, and PFC Hale. And Corporal Madison is on the second APC." A woman crouched by the second APC, checking a panel in the side looked over her shoulder at them and waved once.

"Sarge," Donald nodded in greeting as he and his companions joined the team.

"You have two APCs, two fire teams, one objective: ONI Bunker Theta. It was constructed after that dig site under Theta was started up. It's an escape route from right out of the construct under the dig site and we'll be expecting a few of our boys and some friendly aliens coming out of there. I'm pretty sure you know them, after all you were stuck with Captain Creed for most of a day or two after he saved you." Butler passed Amos a shotgun. "You'll be securing the bunker until they show up. Thing is there's covvies taking a pretty peek at it, so you need to clean house. There will be a few squadrons in the area that will try to help you out, but for the most part you're basically clearing the area so they don't have to do a thing until after they have a few turrets set up and maybe break out some rocket launchers I took the liberty of piling in the back."

"Oh great, we get to ride in the cheapest class." Lyon rolled his eyes as Corporal Madison opened her APC's aft hatch.

"Climb on in boys and girls." Corporal Martin opened his own vehicle and climbed in, followed by Amos and his fire team while Corporal Donald got into the second APC.

"Enjoy the ride, Amos." Butler chuckled, watching as the two Pelicans lifted off and flew out of the hangar.

Xxx

CRACK! CRACK! Two more Elites went down.

"Move up!" Creed rushed into the open, firing his pistol three times before ducking into cover behind another pillar where Fred was loading a captured Plasma Carbine.

Nearby, Talo'Serath advanced on an Elite that was struggling with its overheated plasma repeater. He fired his shotgun once, dropping its shields. It looked up and growled, drawing a plasma blade before another shotgun shell blew its hand off. It screeched, and a third shell blew a hole in its neck. Talo stepped over it, firing on his next target as Ataca followed, picking off more Elites with help from Linda.

Smithy fired another grenade ,and two more elites went down in an explosion as shrapnel tore through their armour. The Sentinels, numbering ten in total up above now pushed the Elites back, cutting down more and more of their number.

By the time the Elites retreated, barely a half dozen remained.

"Excellent work Reclaimer! This shall make our work all the easier." Destine Loyalty said in his usual chipper tone. "But it appears the hostiles in the Transit Center have vanished, and I am detecting a number of new contacts in the Central Processing Chamber you entered from. They appear to match your own infantry."

"Get me a radio link to them," Creed ordered the Monitor.

"At once Reclaimer," A few moments later Destined Loyalty stated. "Done."

"This is Captain Creed to any new UNSC forces, please respond." Nathan said into his radio.

"This is Jun, the area up top is secured and I have a squadron securing the area. I'll go with Aeso and Anton and rendezvous with you."

As the Spartan III spoke, the Monitor projected an image onto a wall, showing footage of several marines stepping out of the chamber and greeting the ODST and Turian standing guard. The Spartan III lead them, glancing at the camera that was watching them.

"I would recommend you make use of the transmition stations, I shall activate them." Destined Loyalty said.

"What was that?" Jun asked.

"Uh...did you read the file on Forerunner Monitors?" Smithy asked sheepishly.

"You're kidding me," Jun had only heard of one Monitor in the chief's reports and that one had tried to destroy the galaxy. "Is this one defective like that Guilty Spark?"

"343 Guilty spark, Monitor of Containment, Research, and Quarantine at Installation 04...a long range transmission from the Installation's systems signalled a full activation of sentinels before it was suddenly destroyed. An analysis confirmed that Unit 343 Guilty Spark was out of line. Obedience to the Reclaimer on site obviously was far more important than enacting a full quarantine to contain the parasite on just one installation. The Halo Installations are meant to only be used in the event of a galactic wide epidemic, I would not order one just to clean up my own mess as long as it was isolated."

"...Sounds okay to me," Creed shrugged. "Alright then, all teams form up on the Transit Station. Jun, we have a prophet holed up in our area, send a squad over and have them set up a barricade to make sure they don't go anywhere."

"First Squadron, to the Captain's location. Second Squad will be down in a few minutes." Jun ordered his marines.

All over the facility, mechanisms opened up, and a pillar of energy sprang to life inside a doorway shaped device that formed.

"Transition Stations activated, you may proceed, Reclaimer," Destined Loyalty said. "My sentinels shall secure the hostile forces until your infantry units have arrived."

Glancing towards the transition station, as Destined Loyalty called it, Nathan holstered his pistol. "I'll go through first, if I come out inside out just take the long way."

"We can't afford for you to die, I hate the idea of having to tell spectre Curana," Talo said, joining him. "I am not as...vital, allow me to test it."

"Won't your dad be a little...mad?" Ataca asked.

"My position should not exempt me from assuring the safety of our team. When I signed on for this I knowingly put myself in danger." Talo shrugged, walking up to the transition station. "Though if I do...like Captain Creed said, take the long way."

Without a word, Talo stepped into the beam of energy and vanished an instant later.

For several moments every UNSC and Citadel soldier waited until the Quarian spoke. "This is Talo'Serath, I am at the Transit Center, and it is empty...you might want to see this though Captain, I am looking at the command console right now, and...it is showing me a very disturbing piece of information you may want to see personally."

"I'm on my way," Creed looked to his team, and then stepped through without a word.

It was like stepping through ha door way. One moment he was on one side, and then two steps and a second later he was on the other side. He stood in a large, circular room that had seven different levels to it. The second, third, and fourth levels just had glass walls and stairs that connected them to the upper and lower levels. The glass walls revealed a never ending darkness, with some lights of sentinels and other machines at work, like little stars at night. The bottom most level had a teleportation pad like the other forerunner teleporter Creed had used to descend to the Forge Facility.

The upper three levels had rows of screens, and on the top most floor was a massive screen. Creed stood on a small teleporter pad on one end of the seventh level while Talo stood on the opposite side at what looked like the main console. He was examining the screen.

By the time Creed reached him Fred, Ataca, Smithy, and Linda came through the teleporter.

"Take a look Lieutenant," Talo stood aside. "But you won't like it."

"Alright, what am I looking for?" Nathan asked.

"Select 'Current Developments', and go to 'Completed Construction Projects'." Talo replied. "Luckily the forerunners didn't leave every single thing DNA encoded or I wouldn't have been able to see it at all."

Nathan manipulated the controls and opened the files Talo indicated. Letters scrolled across the screen.

**Do you wish to view Structure Installation 03?**

Creed chose 'yes', and a 3D Image appeared.

**Installation 03 is at one hundred percent efficiency and prepared for full deployment. Do you wish to deploy?**

But Creed ignored these instructions as he and his team stared at the image as the screen showed finer details including what looked like measurements.

"Oh no...no..." Creed shook his head. "No, no, fuck!" He slammed one fist down, denting the metal of the console.

"Lieutenant, what is it?" Jun asked. "We're in route, we see a teleporter up ahead and-"

"It's a ring." Creed whispered.

"What?"

"A ring. A huge, fucking ring." Nathan said as the screen showed the location of the ring...right under Stronghold's surface. "A ring with a ten thousand kilometre diameter, and is precisely twenty two pint three kilometres thick...and it's in a massive chamber over thirty miles under Stronghold's surface."

The team was looking at a Halo Ring, Installation 03, a perfect copy of the one found by Sierra 117 and the Pillar of Autumn Crew.

Xxx

End of chapter!


	16. Chapter 16

Mass Effect Wars

Robo Reader 12, you're right, I should have explained that. I shall do so in this chapter.

Xxx

**129****th**** Hour of covenant Invasion (9 hours until Citadel Relief fleet arrives)**

**Forerunner 'Forge Facility'**

**Stronghold**

"Jammed shut tight," One of the two technicians sighed. "Looks like the entire system is disabled too, you might want to just blow it Sarge."

Nodding, Sergeant Anton looked to a marine standing next to him. "Private, get the charge set."

"On it sarge," The Marine crouched at the door and began to apply a charge to it as the other humans backed away. A fire team of three marines took up position around the door in case it opened on the demolition expert.

"Anybody have luck getting back to Divard?" Anton looked to the door that had sealed behind Bravo Team once they had moved through. The marines and alpha team had used alternative door ways to enter the large room.

"No more than the other door," Sergeant Connor replied from where he and two technicians struggled to get the door open. "Shut tight and the security lock is up, also the sensors are down in there, so our bubbly little bowling ball of a pal can't help us, we'd have to go back to where Bravo split off into this section and follow it all the way to the room on the other side of this door, and they might have moved their little sword fight by now."

"Keep trying, we aren't going anywhere until that Prophet is secured and our Elite friend is accounted for," Lieutenant Shepard said as she joined them.

"I'm pretty sure with a mother fucking ring the size of a continent right under our feet, we won't be going anywhere for a long time even if we get all this done," Anton grunted, lighting a cigarette.

"A Halo...one of those things cost over two thousand human lives." Shepard sighed.

"Hey, barely four or five hundred of them were even awake when it happened, and they didn't know what to expect. We'll do fine Jane. Plus I'm pretty sure the horrific alien parasites are not included in the workshop assembly." Connor joked.

"Still, the Captain is putting together teams to take the Transit Station down to the Storage Chamber to look at this ring, according to Loyalty, it's in hibernation mode for the moment, but the proper DNA identification and security software haven't been added to its mainframe yet. So we have one big ass explosive right under us that the Covenant can activate 'without' us." Jane pointed out. "Our only break was that this variant's firing index is in a heavily guarded, automated complex, and seeing as once again the system won't differentiate, the moment somebody opens a door that place will light up like a Christmas tree and fill them with holes."

"I find it a little...hard to believe that they've been keeping something ten thousand kilometres in diameter afloat for seven hundred years or so in some sealed chamber that could hold a country or two in it." Williams spoke up. "How do they get the power for that? And isn't Halo supposed to operate like a planet? Isn't it kinda of uh...hard for it to do that in a gravity well?"

"It's the forerunners, Ash, they can make you fall up the stairs, get driven by your own car, and it doesn't even have to be in Russia for that last one to happen." Connor chuckled. "But seriously...you have a point. How the hell do they manage that?"

"Well, if you really want to know, allow me," The ODSTs turned to meet Doctor Catherine Halsey, accompanied by two ONI agents in black combat armour and carrying SMGs, standing on guard for her as she walked over. "I inquired about it to Destined Loyalty, the facility's power supply is enough to operate every city on Reach and Earth for decades on its own. It also draws thermal energy from the planet's core, and uses the same method we use for powering our Super MAC platforms defence grid to draw power from other power stations and reactors under the surface. And speaking of our Orbital Defence, things have been getting tight in orbit for the past two hours, the covenant are getting desperate."

She took a sip from a cup of coffee she was holding in one hand. "I'd like to see why there's a weapon of galactic destruction under the third most protected UNSC world ever colonized, preferably before the covenant either use it or force me to blow it up like usual. I was told there's a short cut to the Transit Station from here, where is it?"

"Ma'am, are you sure that you should be going there? Covenant troops could reappear there any time, there were dozens in there before they went down to the ring." Ashley said.

"Don't worry about me Williams, we have sixteen Spartans on guard there, six of them my own, seven of them the Series Threes that Ackerson made, and three of them the Omegas you're used to working with." Halsey finished her coffee and crushed the Styrofoam cup under one foot. "And we've already gone over the teams being sent down...and speaking of you're coming with me, the four of you are included."

"Ah shit, just my luck, why do I have to be so awesome as to make Command send me onto the scary moon sized ring of doom?" Anton sighed.

"Who else is going down?" Shepard asked.

"Well, you four will be going with a team of marines to investigate one of several key points of investigation we've discovered from the digital blueprints of Halo-which ONI has seen fit to tuck away in their back pocket for something I can only pray does not destroy half the galaxy in the long run. Next, spectre Sarius and his Xeno Team will be investigating a possible weapon's cache. Sierra Team will be looking into the possibility of Flood Spores. Halo was built to house, research, and contain the Flood along with eliminating galactic scale infections, so we suspect preserved spores may be held within the ring for when it is activated. Because of this, Ackerson has sent a HazMat team along with a detail of ONI Specialists who will investigate more possible areas of infection. Zulu will be assisting with Flood Hunter-Kill assignments, and Omega shall be going for the cartographer so we can locate the firing controls for this ring and secure or destroy them. According to Destined Loyalty this cartographer may also contain the location of the Firing Index, an addition he made during the reconstruction of Installation 03 for 'user convenience'."

"Great, so what exactly will we be looking at?" Shepard asked, dreading the answer.

"You will be searching for the firing index and will also investigate possibilities of forerunner data archives, meaning intact and accessible archives of course." Halsey pocketed her glasses into a breast pocket of the coat she wore. "I will be following a platoon of marines to do some research as quickly as I can, and as soon as they arrive we shall be going along with the Citadel Commanding Field Officer Captain Vakarian and his specialist team, which will be setting up an evacuation point for when we leave Halo-and we shall. All of the higher ups are in agreement that Halo must be destroyed."

"And I see no reason to argue with that order," Destined Loyalty floated down next to Halsey. "After some deliberation, I have come to a conclusion Reclaimers. As there is no infection, a firing sequence is not necessary. But as a hostile force will attempt an activation, and your records show they will be very...persistent, it will be in the best interests of current sentient-and non-infected life to disarm Installation 03, permanently."

"Disarm?" Halsey looked at him.

"You did not think the only solution is to demolish the structure, do you? No, no, that would cause too much damage to both this facility and would have catastrophic effects on the surface of this planet. In order to avoid that I shall initiate a 'Declawing' of the installation's firing abilities, so to speak. I shall render the installation unable to fire without entirely replacing every single component of the firing system, which runs through the entire ring and would require decades, perhaps centuries of careful repairs, otherwise more damage would be done to the installation. As this 'Covenant' Faction is using only the most basic and rudimentary of relics, I assume that they would never be able to operate Installation 03, even if given another hundred thousand years to attempt a firing. We take great care to ensure that creations are not used for...rather malignant purposes. I personally designed the 'Declaw' operation. It shall cripple the installation, keeping it intact and able to operate, except for the firing sequence as I have stated."

"ONI would like to get their hands on Forerunner architecture, and a Halo Ring would be an extremely useful asset." Halsey pondered this. "We'll talk it over with General Norris."

"I appreciate it, Reclaimer," Destined Loyalty flew off.

"That one seems to be in a much better state of uh...mind than that Guilty Spark that was mentioned in the reports." Williams said awkwardly.

"Indeed, I suspect 343 Guilty spark was either defective, rampant...or like how the Halos are meant to be variations of one another, perhaps he was a variation that just did not favour our course of action. Destined Loyalty however seems to be in favour of preservation of life rather than incinerating it." Halsey noted. "We have to go, Spectre Sarius and his team will be ready to go by now."

She led them through the teleporter and into the Transit Center.

Marines and technicians lined the various floors. On the top floor, which had the most room on it, Sixteen Spartans and ten aliens were arming themselves for their departure.

"Doctor Halsey, we are prepared to proceed with Operation Crusade." Creed reported, hopping down to Halsey's level and landing in a crouch. "We're just getting the last of our equipment together."

"Good, Captain." Halsey looked around. "After we're through, most of the personnel in this facility will evacuate through the main exit. The covenant know we have this facility and are desperate. They lost a significant portion of their fleet, but now our own fleet is down to sixty percent fighting efficiency, and we lost three of our platforms. The Olympus base spotted a dozen ships heading for this area."

"I'm guessing we have a plan then," Creed raised an eye brow.

"We do," Halsey nodded. "There are two scenarios to how this battle can end Captain. The first scenario is...not official yet, I haven't passed it to the higher ups for the moment. Destined Loyalty has volunteered to cripple Halo of its firing power, meaning we can use it to explore Forerunner technology and improve our chances in the war. To do that our fleet manages to repel the Covenant fleet and secure Stronghold once and for all."

"But then again we never get that lucky, do we." Nathan was not asking a question.

"No...for scenario two..." Halsey sighed. "Evacuation has increased, and we've had a census done...well over ninety five percent of the surviving population was transported to safety thanks to the arrival of the Super Carrier _Valhalla_ and it's battle group, the Captain was more than glad to accommodate several thousand civilians in place of his marines and non essential personnel, and the fact that he had to dump several hundred vehicles and thousands of tons of ammunition has only served to help out the defence of the Olympus Evacuation Zone. Any other military ship not fit for combat or manages to limp out of a bone yard is also being used. It was a rush and we almost had a few dozen accidents and riots, but we have just under thirteen million left to evacuate now. An we're hoping to get them off world before we have to consider Scenario Two."

"What is Scenario Two?" Creed asked.

"The official one for the moment. We fail to repel the covenant, even with the help of the Citadel Fleet. We are forced to abandon Stronghold altogether...and do what Admiral Stanford planned to do to the Covenant back at Reach." Halsey looked around the room. "All of this is too precious to allow the covenant to obtain, too dangerous also. We have one solution, one method that leaves no room for them to even try activating Halo. Do you recall your mission, from before this began? Five days ago...it seems like an eternity ago doesn't it? Insomnia mixed with constant fighting can do that to you I suppose. You were to secure a Nova bomb for transport."

"Whoa, doc, are you planning to...blow the whole planet?" Creed's eyes widened under his visor.

"Yes, actually, we do." Halsey nodded. "Don't give me anything about preserving a valuable planet either, I get that enough each time I hear about a Nova. If we cannot hold this planet, we evacuate it and blow the covenant to hell. They have reinforcements coming for sure, so we have little time."

"So until the Citadel Fleet arrives, what will we do?" Creed asked.

"We will look into Halo while Norris and Jameson fight the covenant in orbit." Halsey replied. "Agent, your side arm." One of her body guards handed her his pistol without hesitation, and she examined it.

She checked the magazine slid it back in, chambered a round, and slid it into an empty holster that hang under her coat. When she saw the ODSTs glance at her, she answered their unspoken question. "Despite popular belief, not all scientists are useless. When you spend time building weapons you tend to learn to use them also. I won't be expecting to fight though, this is a precaution."

"We're ready Captain!" A technician shouted.

"Good," Creed went to join his team, but Halsey stopped him.

"If the main exit is a no-go, there's a tram way connected from this facility that leads to a bunker several miles outside of the main combat zone. I know that most of us will be long gone before the Covenant show up, but if even one team is left behind, make sure they are aware of it. Archer has marines guarding the other side of it by now." She whispered.

Nodding, Creed whispered back. "Thank you Doctor." He looked to the gathered Spartans and aliens. "Alright! Omega Team, on me!"

Scar and smithy leaped down to his level.

"We'll go first." Creed stated, hefting an MA37 assault rifle. "I assume you have the hang of those controls?"

"Aye sir," A technician replied. "This Halo has a series of travel methods such as teleporters or regular transports. If you're too far away you can try using them."

"Why is it that this Halo seems so much better than the one the chief visited?" Smithy asked.

"Maybe because its brand new? Beats me." Scar shrugged as Omega team stepped down to the final floor and stood on the teleporter pad.

"Alright, here we go, but if you come back with evil copies of yourselves I am so out." The technician grinned and typed in a command. "Here we go...Transporting!"

A disk of light ascended, engulfing the trio. They were swallowed up without a sound. One second they were there, and with a mere movement of bright green light they vanished.

Xxx

They reappeared as quickly as they had from the Transporters: instantaneously. They stood in what looked like a forest. There were slopes and hills visible, and the landscape went up suddenly at some points. A lake was nearby, along with a large metal structure.

"Wow..." Scar looked around...and then made the mistake of looking up. "Holy shit!"

Above the Omegas, far in the distance, they could see where the ring world connected on the opposite side. It was also easy to see where the ring began to curve from where they stood. Everything looked so...normal, if they hadn't looked up they might never have known that they weren't in a regular environment like on Stronghold.

"This is amazing," Smithy whispered, examining the trees. "These are natural flora from the surface...and it looks like the sun is simulated." She pointed to what looked like a blue sky with a sun shining.

"These forerunners went all out," Creed noted. "Doctor Halsey, can you hear me?"

"Affirmative Captain," Halsey replied. "The chamber that Halo is contained in is simulating an average environment on Stronghold, I believe once Halo is securely launched it will handle this on its own."

"Any idea where the cartographer is or what it looks like?" Creed asked as he and his two Omegas crept through the bushes, rifles raised.

"From what I can tell from here it is located several miles up spin from you." Halsey stated. "We would have tried to drop you closer but the manual teleportation is very...difficult to master."

"I always hated Star Trek anyways," Smithy sighed.

"Hey Doc...something just occurred to me. Now there are seven Halos, right?" Scar asked.

"Yes."

"One is placed in a section of the galaxy so it can destroy one seventh of it, equal in size to the other rings, right?"

"Indeed."

"And the one that the Chief destroyed was in our section of the galaxy, right?" Scar continued.

"It was."

"And this one was underground for seven hundred years, meant to replace another Halo, right?"

"Quite true, Reclaimer," Destined Loyalty broke into the chat. "Why do you ask?"

"Well...this one is 03, right? It's supposed to be in a different section if the one destroyed was 04."

"Correct."

"So...why the fuck is it here instead of being made countless years away from us? You know, far from the covenant or anybody who can operate it?" Scar asked bluntly.

"Well Reclaimer...I suspect that it is because this is the only production facility left. At least operational enough to receive the news of Installation 03's destruction and begin construction." Destined Loyalty replied. "I myself found it odd, since my facility originally produced Installation 04, why I would receive automated orders to begin construction on a different installation escaped me at first. I suspect that some or all of the other Forge facilities are in states of disrepair. I confess that each time an installation was completed my creators were required to manually move Installations using Dreadnaughts repurposed for the objective of transportation. It was possible to 'pull' objects through a slip space transition, if secured enough."

"How the hell do they manage-" Smithy started.

"Smithy, they were forerunners, I haven't seen what they 'can't' do yet." Scar rolled his eyes under his visor.

"Apparently they 'can' wipe out entire galaxies though." Creed added grimly. "So you're saying the only reason why this place got to build this ring is because it was the only place left."

"The only other option would be to go to Installation 00, and the coordinates of that area are outside of my database." Destined Loyalty stated. "But trust me when I say that it is quite impossible for the Covenant or any other organic race to reach Installation 00 for the moment. I am only informed that it is located far from any civilization or areas where sentient life could be located. By now construction of Installation 04 could have initiated there after confirming that this facility was not able to do so."

"So...there might be another replacement out there is what you mean." Creed sounded far from happy.

"Indeed, Installation 00 is a command module for all seven installations, and remains in constant connection with construction and repair facilities. Installation 04 will not take nearly as long as this one took, as Installation 00 has a large surplus of material, enough to construct three installations in fact."

"Shit, Doctor, make a note: get rid of this Installation 00." Creed said.

"Already done Captain, for now let's focus on this one Halo." Halsey replied.

"Got it," By now the fire team had broken into a jog.

Xxx

**Stronghold, Sector Four, ONI Bunker Complex 'Tom'**

**130****th**** Hour of Covenant Invasion**

Donald put a shell into the Brute as it tried to rise. "Area secured sir."

"Good, we have some friendlies closing in." Amos stated from where he sat on the edge of the bunker's roof. Two warthogs crashed through the gates of the small complex, and three marines hopped off of each as a Carrier hog carrying five more marines joined them.

"Sergeant, we got your transmission." A PFC, seeming to be the highest ranking member present snapped a salute.

"Alright, form into fire teams and set up launchers and turrets! There's plenty in the armoury," Amos ordered. "Standing orders are to maintain our position until our boys underground need this tunnel to get the hell out of dodge."

"You got it sir!"

The humans, now double in number began to set up machine turrets and grabbed rocket launchers and ammunition cases to move to positions where they could be used and reloaded easily.

"Sergeant Amos, this is Citadel Frigate 146, we are on approach to provide mobile fire power and infantry support. Things are a little heavy up here so we'll take a while." A female voice said over the marine's radio.

"Got it, take your time," Amos had come to be slightly less suspicious of the Citadel Aliens by now, but he still didn't entirely trust them. He had heard of what had happened to the Spectre Curana, and felt sympathy for her, but outside of that he wasn't sure whether to trust them or not.

"First wave, incoming!" Corporal Donald bellowed. "Rockets!"

As a trio of banshees made an approach, two rockets went up and brought down one each. The third fired several bursts of plasma before pulling off. The plasma struck in the middle of the yard and hit nothing but the ground, but showered the humans with dirt.

"Dropships!" One of Amos' two watchmen, Private Lyon shouted.

"Alright guys and gals, force them to set down outside the perimeter. Are those APCs combat ready?"

"Affirmative." Corporal Madison replied as her APC rolled through the main yard. The main gun locked onto an approaching Phantom. "This'll help bring her down. Get somebody in here on the M41-A facing the gate."

"You, in the vehicle, now!" Amos chose a random marine, who complied and climbed onto the APC and went in through the top hatch.

"Alright, here she comes, fire!"

Seven rockets fired, and the main gun of the Gator APC began to fire twin shots of high explosive rounds. The barrage began to wear on the Phantom within seconds, and it activated its gravity beam. Several shapes dropped down in front of the base perimeter before the Phantom began to pull back. But a shot from the Gator's Teeth pierced the cockpit, and the drop ship went down somewhere in the distance.

"Two squads of grunts, six Jackals, three Elites." Lyon reported. "And about twice as many moving in from behind them."

"Get ready!" Amos barked before the first grunts flooded through the gate. "FIRE!"

A pair of machine guns roared to life, and two marines with battle rifles helped to mow down the infantry while the machine gun on the side of the Gator ripped through three Grunts in seconds.

Xxx

**New Berlin**

"Firing!" Corporal Bauer fired the rocket launcher, and eliminated the Wraith. "Artillery is down, move up!"

Several fire teams rushed from cover, moving across the parking lot and to the entrance of the covenant compound.

"Quinton, take your fire team along the west side of the perimeter and hold position until I give the signal. Take a mortar with you, along with some flares." McNeal ordered. "Murphy, take your team along the south wall and keep anybody from escaping through the garages. I'll have two fire teams along to help you out in a few minutes. The rest of you, get ready to charge, we're blowing the gate open the old fashioned way!"

"What's that?" Bauer asked before a Hornet flew down and hovered over the marines. "Oh."

"X-Ray 5, firing!" The pilot bellowed, firing two missiles that impacted the gates of the captured compound the covenant were using for a base and blew them open.

"Move up!" McNeal shouted, and the humans flooded through the gate in fire team formations, suppressing the enemy sentries.

As soon as the main yard, which consisted of several landing pads was cleared, the marines spread out and set up a perimeter. Each fire team chose a door way or passage between buildings and proceeded to head through it. McNeal watched as four Falcons flew over head, the turrets on each of them firing down at unseen covenant in other parts of the compound. Three marines dropped down from each on cables and engaged other covenant teams.

"Sarge, this is Eagle, we have three Phantoms coming in with Vampire and Banshee escorts." One of McNeal's scouts from Able team reported.

"This is Citadel Frigate 303, we see them." A voice suddenly spoke up.

"What? Citadel Frigate?" Those aliens that supposedly are here to help?

McNeal looked up as a Citadel Frigate, only several times the size of a Phantom flew overhead and fired off several barrages of lasers from a pair of turrets on each side of its hull's main section. The Phantoms were blown out of the sky by the GARDIAN lasers easily. The three Banshees and part of Vampires cleared off as the GARDAN lasers struck down two of the fighters.

"Hostile air is cleared. Deploying infantry!" The frigate was hovering so low that McNeal could have touched its lowest part if she stood on a roof. A set of what looked like hangar bay doors opened in the back, and five whole fire teams poured out of the frigate. "Fire teams deployed. Pulling away, Echo Company needs help over at the market. Good luck Able Company."

"Thanks." McNeal said into her radio, barely aware of her own mission for several moments as she watched the alien ship vanish into the horizon.

Xxx

Ten Citadel Frigates were helping to clear the skies over New Berlin and blast away enemy artillery on the ground. Several Hunter-Mauler gunships accompanied each as flights of three Citadel fighters made strafing runs over Covenant positions. Several Covenant raiding ships engaged the Citadel ships. Though more powerful, they were not as fast as the Citadel Frigates.

Below one such covenant corvette, a squadron of Citadel soldiers succeeded in taking a covenant AA battery. When several covenant Jackal teams attempted to retake it, they were repelled by a Pelican that dropped off two fire teams of marines to assist the aliens.

The gun fired, and the covenant raiding ship was brought down by half a dozen high velocity plasma shells. Cheering, the allied soldiers turned the gun on the nearest raiding ship.

Xxx

Hours away from Stronghold, the Citadel Fleet prepared itself for the coming battle that they had awaited for days. Executor Palin sat in his command chair, calmly sending out orders to thousands of soldiers and crew.

"Sir, our transport frigates have returned and have reported a successful deployment of another two hundred soldiers on Stronghold, the humans are continuing evacuations." An Officer stated, handing Palin a small portable data screen.

"Thank you, now as you were Lieutenant," Palin replied. "Captain Vakaran will still have a lot of things left over for us to clean up, we need to do our part."

"All weapon systems are operating at maximum efficiency, I'll keep checking it over until we get there," The Gunnery Officer said as his image appeared before Palin. "Main Accelerators are ready to charge and fire at a moment's notice. And our missile compliment is being checked again and again for anything that could go wrong when we deploy our offensive armaments."

"Very good Commander, continue," Palin dismissed the Salarian Officer and looked back towards the seemingly endless stars. "What I wouldn't give for a damn relay, why are these humans in the ass end of space anyways?"

Xxx

Their plasma swords had died minutes ago, they had used every discarded weapon in the room to little effect, their armour was on the verge of shattering. The two Elite veterans stood across from one another. Divard coolly gestured for Cermora to make the first attack, to which the shipmaster obliged.

Their fists and feet collided with flesh, but nether opponent gave ground to one another. Divard roared and tackled Cermora, sending them both through an open set of doors and over a railing. Fallng several feet, they landed in the remnants of another battle ground. Grabbing a discarded Needler, Cermora tried to swing it around, only for Divard to fire an overcharged plasma pistol shot that blew it out of hs hands. As Cermora cursed, holding his scorched hand, Divard tried to fire again, but the pistol had been burnt out!

He tossed it at Cermora as he charged, distracting the Shipmaster as the weapon clanged off his helmet before an upper cut slammed into his jaw. Cermora recovered and slammed his left foot into Divard's ribs. Backing up, the Elite gasped as his weakened chest armour gave n. Discarding it, he tore off his helmet next. Glaring, he charged his adversary once more.

Xxx

**Halo -03 (Sigma Halo)**

**100.3 miles under Stronghold Surface**

**Forerunner Storage Facility**

**130****th**** Hour of Covenant Invasion**

"Captain, this is Halsey, we have set up a temporary command post and evacuation point. All other teams have been deployed and are in the middle of fulfilling their objectives." Creed paused as the good doctor contacted him on his radio.

"We're approaching the coordinates of the Silent Cartographer, ma'am." Creed slid down a slope and paused to let his companions catch up to him. "Shouldn't be long now."

"I have access to the teleportation grid, when you find it, activate the cartographer's communication systems and I can get a precise lock on you and transfer you to the firing controls while Shepard and her Shadow team will look for the firing index and secure it."

"We'll let you know when we have Waypoint Charlie secured then," Creed paused as Scar, who had moved up ahead signalled for them to stop. "Radio silence."

Halsey didn't reply. The team regrouped at the tree line where Scar pointed to a large building that was built into a slope and was partially on water.

"Scar, recon, go quietly," Creed whispered before the sniper vanished.

Xxx

Roy slid down the last slope and crouched behind a low wall. He peered over it for several moments before ducking back down when a pair of Elites passed by. He loaded a round into his pistol's chamber and followed them.

It was all too easy. He rushed forward and fired the silenced pistol, blowing through one elite's shields and putting a seventh round in its head. Without stopping, he leaped up and knocked the second Elite to the ground, straddling it as he cut its throat. "Sir, we have covenant here, I took out a patrol but I think there are more."

"Maintain cover, and find a high view of the field. Smithy and I will find the control center." Creed and Smithy had already reached the Silent Cartographer compound.

"You got it Captain!" Roy replied, vanishing from sight again.

Creed and Smithy reached a small plaza, and ducked behind the cover of a chest high wall of stone. In the plaza was a Wraith tank, looking half completed. It was missing its rudders, and the main gun. Several engineers floated around it, constructing the vehicle. Several squadrons of Grunts led by Elites guarded the plaza.

"Sir, I think I see the command center, but she's got almost a whole company between you and her after these ones. But I think I see a walk way that goes under the main road towards the cartographer, so maybe that can help." Scar reported. "Just take down the covenant in front of you, and watch out for the Jackal snipers, you have six of them spread out."

"I see them," Smithy stated, pointing out several locations where a Jackal stood with a beam rifle.

"Scar, they're yours, make the first shot and we'll rush them," Creed checked his rifle, and after being satisfied with it slid the clip back in and waited.

CRACK!

A jackal's head exploded, as did three more within the next three seconds as the covenant realized they were under attack! The other two snipers fired on Scar's location as he reloaded, but Creed and Smithy picked them both off with their DMR and pistol respectively. Smithy changed to her assault rifle and fired several bursts into a squad of six grunts led by a blue Elite. The elite crouched, angling its head away as bullets bounced off its shields and tore up three of its grunts. A single grenade took out the remaining grunts and the Elite's weakened shields, tearing the bigger alien to pieces.

Creed focused on the squadron closest to the Wraith. Three shots weakened the Elite's shields as he moved in, and a quick blow across its face knocked it off its feet. A fourth shot put it down for good, and then Creed put the other Grunts down with seven more rounds. Moving on to the Wraith, a Grunt tried to hop into the turret seat as Creed climbed up, but discovered that the turret did not yet function! The grunt screamed as Creed tossed it out of its seat.

Firing her grenade launcher, Smithy blew away half of a squadron while the other remaining two began to fall back in the direction of a massive covenant blockade. "We can't take that many on at once, let's use that walk way Roy spotted!"

"Good idea!" As plasma fire flew over them, the two Spartans rushed to a smaller stone path that began next to where the large main road began. Going down, they found themselves walking on the lowest level of the entire structure, and surrounding them on all sides was a barrier of thick glass, but knowing the forerunners it was several times as strong. Series of fish that the Spartans had never seen before swam by, illuminated by what looked like aquatic versions of the sentinels.

"Nice view," Creed commented as they rushed along the glass hall way. "Scar, how does t look up there?"

"They're sending two fire teams of Elites down after you, they're packing heat!" The sniper replied before eight Black clad Elites rushed down the opposite ramp, carrying plasma launchers and fuel rod cannons.

"Uh...we see them, but thanks for the heads up." Smithy sighed before she and Creed opened fire.

Xxx

"Clear," Garrus Vakarian moved out of the structure as Tali spoke.

"Looks almost too real." The Turian mumbled as he slid his visor back and looked around the field that the structure-along with several others were located in. The structures seemed to link Halo to the Forge Facility judging from the two way Teleporters.

"Don't be fooled Captain Vakarian, it isn't." Halsey, accompanied by Shadow Team followed the Citadel soldiers out. The scientist set down a silver brief case and took out a laptop. She tapped in several commands into it and then spoke into her radio. "This is Hannibal. Sierra Team, report in."

"We're with HazMat Alpha, Hannibal." Fred replied. "We've found a structure that the spooks think will lead to the subterranean sections of Halo based off of footage from John's helmet."

"Be careful Sierra Leader, we can't afford to lose more Spartans," Halsey cautioned Fred.

"Yes ma'am, Sierra Leader out."

Halsey checked in with the other teams. "Zulu Team, HazMat Bravo, report in."

"This is Zulu, we showed p right where you wanted us ma'am. Looks like the teleporters at our location link to different parts of Halo, and we should be able to react quickly to any Flood Spores if there are any here." Ashtoreth, Zulu Leader reported. "We'll be on standby with Bravo until then."

"Very good, Hannibal out. Xeno Squad, status?"

"We've found the cache, but there's a team of Elites, Spec Ops Class, they're giving us some trouble but we're advancing." Sarius stated before a burst of gun fire blocked off all other sounds. "Serath, take down that sniper! Ataca, get to Aeso's position, NOW!"

"Sounds like we got the short end of the stick." Wrex grumbled.

"All teams, Evac Point Alpha is secured. As soon as your objectives are complete you are to rendezvous here. Use whatever means available to get to my location. Rally Point Hannibal is the only friendly way back to the surface now." Halsey announced.

"We'll make sure to remember that-" Captain Creed was blocked out by an explosion on his end. "Alright, cleared! Up the stairs and don't stop Smithy!"

"Captain, what s your status?"

"Scar's providing cover for us. He has plenty of ammo and a view of the whole complex. Me and Smithy are in the cartographer now, we're sealing the door behind us!"

"I'll keep them occupied Captain, but hurry back." Scar said coolly. "I have about four hundred rounds for this baby and there are plenty more weapons lying around thanks to you two."

"Just don't take unnecessary risks Scar, got it?" Smithy demanded.

"Got it," Scar fired twice. "Another Elite down."

More marines began to pour out of the teleporter in the central structure and fan out, setting up mounted machine guns and taking up positions on top of buildings.

"Shadow, I believe you have a Firing Index to look for. As soon as Omega transmits any information on it to us, I can teleport you to the general location." Halsey said.

"I can assist with creating a more accurate transition." Destined Loyalty slowly floated out and joined the gathered soldiers. "Sadly protocol dictated that I erase knowledge of the Firing Index's location from my memory banks-barring an emergency file that only opens in the event of a confirmed outbreak of Flood specimens. Around the time of the original galactic purge there had been reports of Flood evolving to the point of interacting with technological components, there was a fear that security measures could be captured should a monitor be captured."

"Well, better safe than sorry, as they say." Halsey sighed. "I'll set up inside. Lieutenant Shepard, I will inform you of when you are called upon."

Xxx

**Citadel Fleet**

"Sir, our scout ships have spotted a Covenant Patrol up ahead. Two Frigates and six Corvettes!" An officer shouted as sirens wailed.

"All hands prepare for battle." Palin knew that two frigates were easily bigger than most dreadnaughts-his flagship was one of the few exceptions constructed within the last few years in response to multiple pirate and slave raids by Terminus Factions.

"Our forward battle groups engaging." Palin watched as three Cruisers accompanied by four heavy destroyers engaged the enemy fleet.

One Frigate fired a shot from its main guns, but the shielding of the Cruiser _Dark Verity_ held at fifty four percent. The cruiser fired several shots from its Accelerator. Though the projectiles were smaller and weaker than the MAC gun used by humanity, the accelerated firing rate and accuracy could allow the Cruiser to take down Covenant shielding after six shots, and perhaps destroy it after ten total shots. The other two cruisers, the Destroyers, and the escort frigates opened fire.

As the Citadel Battle group engaged the Covenant, the relief fleet continued on towards Stronghold.

Xxx

"Come on, I can't hold them much longer!" Creed slid another clip into his DMR and fired twice ,blowing a Jackal off its feet as it rushed for the massive doors leading into the cartographer.

"I'm trying!" Smithy said as she tapped commands into a panel. "Let's see you instantly understand one hundred thousand year old controls! I only got a crash course from 117's files."

Creed put four rounds into an Elite and tossed a grenade out, blowing away a pair of Grunts next. "I'm just saying."

"Alright...I got it!" Smithy smiled as the doors began to slide shut. They both kept their weapons locked on the entrance until it was sealed. Not a single enemy had gotten in.

"This is Omega Leader, Cartographer Interior is secured. We'll find the location of the Index and retrieve it." Creed said.

"Very good Captain. If we're lucky we can be off of Halo by the time the Citadel Fleet arrives." Halsey sounded pleased.

"I'm grinning," Creed said sarcastically as he and Smithy proceeded down the corridor.

Xxx

**UNSC **_**Legionnaire **_

"Fire!" Archer barked.

The MAC gun tore through the exposed Corvette.

"Enemy fleet is pulling back again," The Tactical Officer announce. "Battle group is regrouping over Dig Site."

"How many of us are left?"

"In this battle group? We have four other frigates, three Destroyers, and a Carrier. In the fleet? We lost four ships aside from the _Oasis_ in our group."

"Damn, we can't keep this up forever, we'll run out of ships pretty fast when our orbital defence is too weak." Archer sighed. "ETA on relief fleet?"

"Citadel Fleet ETA...seven hours."

"God help us all."

Xxx

End of chapter


	17. Author's Note

Mass Effect Wars

**Ok, I know you all hate me for not posting new chapters as of late but I've been distracted by the following.**

**1-School, I'm the dumb ass who chose all academic courses this time around.**

**2-I am currently in the Caribbean on vacation from said academic courses.**

**3-I've been thinking long and hard and feel I should edit the story, make the UNSC a lot more...untrusting towards our friends from Mass Effect. So I've been rather hesitant to post more chapters up.**

**4-...Just plain forgot to even think about it until review number 60 came in, and never got around until now.**

**So anyways, yes, I will be doing editing of previous chapters...AFTER I FINISH THIS STORY, mostly in the earlier stages to make contact between UNSC and the Citadel less friendly.**

**Let's just say instead of like this...**

**(Nathan walked up to Curana. "Hi!"**

"**Hi!" Curana grinned.)**

**It'll be more like this.**

**(Nathan and Ataca were in the middle of an arm wrestling competition.**

**SNAP!**

**Ataca groaned in pain as his arm was broken. "You little-!"**

"**Bring it you over developed frog!" Nathan snarled.**

**Suddenly Omega Team and Ataca's fellow aliens broke the two apart, shooting nasty glares at the other group.)**

**If I get around to it I should have this done in a few weeks and the rewrite done after that. Just have to...tweak a few chapters, add some scenes, delete some, modify some and we'll be set. But I am not dong that until this is done since I'm too committed now.**

**Sorry if you all don't like this...but honestly I'm too tired to give a damn. ^_^**

**So enjoy!**


	18. Chapter 18

New Announcement

**I know I promised to finish ME Wars but...**

**Well let's say this happened**

**Xxxx**

**Steel sat at his desk, staring at a currently empty Microsoft Word document. So far he had the following.**

'**Mass Effect Wars**

**I own Nothing.**

**Xxx**

**Chapter'**

**He tapped his desk, leaning his head on his other hand as his brow narrowed in concentration. He placed one hand on the key board, but then sighed and stood up.**

"**Screw it, I needs some brain food."**

**Later, he returned, and to dodge the topic he turned on the TV.**

**After that, he chose to play Mass Effect.**

**When that bored him he played Halo Reach.**

**When that bored him he played the Mass Effect 2 Game he had finally managed to buy off of his friend instead of borrowing it repeatedly.**

**When he got back on his Lap Top, he tried contacting Lord Maximus for help, but his partner in crime was busy.**

**Cursing, Steel sighed. "Well...I am screwed seven ways to Sunday and not one of them involves me getting lucky!"**

**At that moment he came to a decision...**

"**Looks like I'll have to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch." He sighed.**

**Sorry Nathan and Curana, you'll get your lemon some day, but as long as Steel Scale was your owner you'd have better luck just pulling up a chair.**

**Deleting what he had, Steel Scale began to type.**

"**Well, let's see what I can do." He said to himself. "The ME Meets ST ground to a halt the first time and the Rewrite kicked ass, maybe I can get Maximus to help me on this a bit."**

**And so his new adventure had begun!**

**Xxx**

**So...yeah, I know you'll most likely hate me but I got NOTHING on this.**

**But I hate to be a total ass hole so I'll tell you what...this is up for adoption.**

**You can have it, and you will state that it is separate from the Rewrite I am making. If anybody bitches to you about it, send them my way.**

**I hate to abandon a promising story, but I need to start fresh.**

**To those of you who enjoyed this, I thank you for supporting it and I will do my best to make the Rewritten version even better.**


End file.
